Cactus Salad with Shrimp

In Mexico, the nopal becomes especially important table fare during Lent, when the Catholic Church frowns upon the consumption of meat. A common sight in Mexican markets is the nopal vendor, busy scraping the spines and dicing the pads, which are then ready for the shopper to take home and cook. In a typical Mexican kitchen, nopales are boiled and then rinsed to wash away the babas, the slimy liquid that exudes during cooking (like okra). I’ve discovered that grilling the cact