Stuffed Mirlitons

This is a great Cajun dish – and one that we only heard of recently. We had never heard of this delicious squash, and thought we had never seen it in a grocery store. How could you ever find one of these outside of New Orleans?

Well, as it turns out, mirlitons have another name: chayote squash. Surprisingly, they’re actually pretty common in normal grocery stores. Though smaller stores may not have them, larger produce-focused supermarkets should have them or be able to get them

2 mirlitons

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon butter

salt and pepper, to taste

1/4 pound shrimp

1/4 cup bread crumbs

Boil 4 cups of water with some salt. Add the mirlitons once the water is boiling and reduce to a simmer. Simmer the mirlitons for 60-90 minutes, or until soft. Remove from the water and let cool. (You can do this step up to a day in advance and refrigerate the mirlitons.)

Peel the shrimp and cut each of them into either halves or fourths (depending on the size – obviously, you’ll want to cut the bigger ones more.) Put those in the fridge if you do this ahead of time.

Cut each mirliton in half longways. Using a fine-edged spoon, scrape out the insides, leaving about 1/4 inch of meat left inside of the shell. Reserve what you scoop out.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the butter, pepper, onion, and celery in a medium saucepan. (The latter of those three ingredients is known as Cajun trinity.)  Cook until onion starts to become translucent. Add the garlic. Cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add the insides of the mirlitons. Take a potato masher and mash these ingredients together in the pot. Now add your shrimp and bread crumbs and cook until the shrimp are pink, which should be another 3-5 minutes.

Fill each of the mirliton shells with the stuffing that you just made as full as they will go. Put these in a pre-greased glass baking tray and bake for 10 minutes. Serve alongside a good steak or seafood dish and ENJOY!

(This was another picture we took at the beach – so the lighting is a little off…)