Series: From my Covid gardens
In the previous post of this thread I discussed how to make pasta sauce from the last harvest – with green tomatoes. One can use the sauce in a variety of dishes, not just pasta. So today I’ll put down a recipe using the sauce. You of course can use any other tomato-based sauce.
I had never used chayote before and didn’t even know what they were. In these Covid days, we mainly order our groceries online. I placed an online order with a Chinese delivery chain and decided to order fruits that looked like pears. Must be Asian pears, I thought. Inspected on arrival – the colour didn’t quite fit my pear image, so I sliced one and tried it. Unknown to me taste, but definitely not pear. It was slightly sweet, yet tasted more like sweet zucchini or perhaps sweet cucumber. Disappointed in my fruit selection, I had to decide what to do with them. It was November 2nd and almost everything in my garden was already harvested. However, I had some chives, mint and thyme left. I decided to try cooking two of the chayote with my herbs. What about the other two? Well I had frozen green tomato sauce that I had made just two days before. Why not try it?
So there, I came up with these 2 recipes:
Chayote with green tomato sauce
Ingredients:
2 chayote, quartered then thinly sliced
About a cup and a half (the size of my container) of green tomato pasta sauce (any other tomato-based sauce will do)
1 teaspoon of chili flakes
1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of chopped chives or parsley
Salt to taste if your sauce is not salted. Mine is so I didn’t add any.
Preparation
Sauté the sliced chayote quarters in the olive oil until soft (about 10 min) on medium heat.
Add the tomato sauce and the chili flakes. Stir until the sauce starts simmering. Remove from the heat and transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle with chopped chives or parsley for colour.
Chayote with fresh herbs and garlic
Ingredients:
2 chayote, quartered then thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves
A handful of fresh herbs. I used chives and mint; however, you can add parsley, dill, cilantro or even thyme if you have some
1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of plain yogurt (not sweetened or flavored) or sour cream
Preparation
Sauté the sliced garlic cloves to golden and add the chayote. Sauté the chayote on medium heat until they soften (about 10 to 15min). Add salt, the chopped herbs and if you want some freshly ground pepper. Stir and remove from the heat.
Place in a serving plate and top with yogurt or sour cream. Sprinkle chopped chives or dill over the yogurt.
I served both chayote styles with a slice of toast.
Bonne appétit!
What to do with the leftovers?
It is fascinating how 4 chayote could make for more than two dinners for three people. Next day we had the herbs sautéed chayote for lunch, and used the chili and green tomatoes leftovers in the evening, mixing it with sautéed ground beef (any other ground meat will do).
Chop an onion and sauté it with about 400 g ground beef. Once meat is cooked, add the chayote leftovers. Mix and leave it to heat. Remove place in a serving plate and sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley or basil.
Bonne appétit!
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