This recipe is a regional dish in the United States, popular around the holidays in Louisiana. Mirliton is the Louisiana name for the climbing squash, also known as chayote, a light green, pear-shaped vegetable of the gourd family. It has a mild flavor and a texture between a cucumber and a potato. This ingredient has been used in Cajun and Creole cooking for over 100 years, arriving from the Caribbean in the early 1800s. This dish is served as dressing in the South; in other parts of the country, it would be called stuffing.
Recipe Servings: 8
Prep Time
1 hour
Cook Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time
2 hours 30 minutes
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
Directions
- Bring large pot of water to a boil and add mirliton, boiling until tender, about 45 minutes.
- Drain, cool, and peel. Cut in half and remove seeds, and then cube.
- When mirliton are almost done, bring another pot of water to a boil and add shrimp, cooking 5 minutes until pink.
- Drain shrimp but reserve water for later.
- Preheat oven to 250°F.
- Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until soft, about 5-8 minutes.
- Transfer onion mixture to a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
- Add shrimp, ham, and cubed mirliton.
- Beat egg in small dish with 1 tablespoon water reserved from shrimp. Pour into baking dish.
- Mix in bread crumbs, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper and blend well.
- If mixture looks dry add more reserved shrimp water.
- Mixture can be refrigerated or frozen at this point if not ready to bake. Top with more breadcrumbs if desired.
- Bake 1 hour 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
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