Smoky Tomahawk & Nopal Cactus Avocado Salad

Take your choice of meat out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature, just place a piece of parchment or foil over it.

Once it has cooled to room temperature, fire up the grill and get the temperature to about 350F.

For the smoky flavor, I placed alder wood on top of the hot coals once it reached 350F.  Alder wood has an excellent earthy flavor that complements beef well.

Rub about 1 1/2 tablespoons of sea salt and as much cracked pepper as you would like all over the steak.\

Set up the grill for indirect cooking.  This is important – you want the grill to function more like an oven to “roast or bake” – putting it directly on the grates over the flames or charcoal will cause it to sear since fat from the steak will drip into the flames.

Add the steak and insert a meat probe into the thickest part of the steak so you can track the internal temperature to control your desired level of doneness.  For rare – medium rare, remove the steak once it reaches 120-125F, 130 – 135 medium, and well…after that, what’s the point? ?

Close the grill and smoke for about 25 – 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches your desired temperature.

Remove the steak from the grill, remove the probe.

Then place the steak directly over the flames, let it sear for 30 -seconds to 1-minute, then flip it on the other side.  Repeat until you have a nice, crispy char on the steak.

Set the steak aside to rest for at least 10 minutes and lightly cover with foil.

Slice and enjoy!

To reduce the amount of saturated fat, I recommend trimming away larger chunks of visible fat before eating. It’ll still taste amazing!

Use a knife to scrape the spines from the cactus leaves, rinse under water, then chop into pieces.

Set a carbon steel or cast iron skillet on high heat, once hot lightly spray with oil, then add the cactus (or green beans).  Let the cactus rest untouched in the skillet to sear for about 2 – 3 minutes, just make sure it is not burning.  Season with pepper as it cooks, then toss in the skillet until you no longer see as much mucilage, about 1 – 2 minutes.

Set the cactus aside to cool before mixing it with the other inrgedients.

Add all ingredients to a bowl and toss together.  Season to taste with sea salt & pepper, and feel free to make it your own, adding more/less of certain ingredients – there’s no wrong way to make this.

Place in the fridge to chill for about 1 hour, then serve! This is a great recipe to make the night before for a cookout.  It will last for about 5 days in the fridge and I would not recommend freezing.