Cactus and Green Bean Casserole

This recipe has been under development for a couple years, this one was pretty close to what I want.  The cream cheese was what I had in the fridge, this should be a mozzarella blend of some kind.  This was already an experiment so the cream cheese went in.

• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 6 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 15 oz can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 15 oz can cream of Poblano soup
• 1 (28 oz) can green beans
• 1 (30 oz) jar cactus strips
• french fried onions

350ºF for 45 – 55 minutes until bubbly and onions are browned on top.  Kinda like this:

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Prickly Pear Potation

Prickly Pear, also called tuna, is the fruit of the Opuntia ficus-indica cactus.  You can see it growing on the roadsides in South Texas and other areas of the South through to Mexico.  I don’t recommend picking them by the road, instead find them at the grocery store or possibly at local farmer’s markets.  There are spines on the fruit just like the green pads of the cactus, be careful that these have been removed before handling the fruit.

I cut open the fruit and scraped out the seeded pulp.  Then I squished the pulp to release the juice in a fine mesh strainer.

Strain the pulp twice to get a juice that is clear and sweet.  I didn’t have any alcohol to make a prickly pear potations true to the name, but you could certainly try adding a shot of tequila or vodka over ice.  I added watermelon juice prepared in the same way using my fine mesh strainer.

The cactus fruit tastes sweet and succulent, a little grassy too.  It’s a different but refreshing drink for summer.

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