Chayotes Rellenos al Horno con Queso de Bola

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot for boiling the chayotes
• •Wide skillet or shallow cazuela for the picadillo
• •Large clay or ceramic baking dish, big enough for 12 chayote halves
• •Box grater for the queso de bola
• •Small comal for toasting almonds

Instructions

1. 1

   Boil the chayotes

   Place the whole chayotes in a large pot and cover with cold water by two inches. Add the tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, until a paring knife slides into the flesh with light resistance. You want them tender but not collapsing. Chayote turns to mush if you walk away from the pot. Drain and let them sit on a kitchen towel until cool enough to handle.

   Chayotes ooze a sticky sap that dries on your hands like glue. Rub a little oil on your palms before you handle them, or wear thin gloves. The señoras in Mérida know this. Now you do too.
2. 2

   Hollow the halves

   Slice each chayote in half lengthwise. Remove the soft flat seed in the center. The seed is edible and good. Chop it and set it aside with the flesh. Scoop the pulp from each half with a spoon, leaving a wall about a quarter inch thick. Arrange the empty halves cut-side up in a large baking dish or two clay cazuelas. Chop the scooped pulp and reserve it for the picadillo. Nothing gets thrown out. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.

3. 3

   Build the picadillo base

   Heat the manteca in a wide skillet or cazuela over medium heat. Add the diced onion with a pinch of salt and cook for five minutes, until translucent and just starting to turn gold at the edges. Add the garlic and cook one minute more. The kitchen should smell like the start of every good Yucatecan stew.

4. 4

   Add the meat and the recado

   Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the ground pork and break it apart with a wooden spoon. Cook for six to eight minutes, until the meat has lost its pink and the rendered fat starts to fry the edges. Stir in the dissolved recado rojo, canela, clove, and black pepper. The mixture will turn a deep brick red. That color is the dish. Recado rojo is not optional. Without it, you have made a generic picadillo, not a Yucatecan one.

   Real recado rojo is sold in blocks at any Mexican market. Buy a Yucatecan brand if you can find it. The ones from Mérida are darker, earthier, and worth the trouble. If you cannot find sour orange, mix equal parts orange juice and white vinegar with a squeeze of lime.
5. 5

   Fold in the sweet and the briny

   Add the diced tomato and cook for three minutes, until it breaks down into the meat. Stir in the chopped chayote pulp and cook for five more minutes, until the pulp loses its raw look and gives up its water. Off the heat, fold in the raisins, capers, chopped almonds, and parsley. Taste for salt. The picadillo should hit sweet, briny, warm-spiced, and savory in the same bite. That balance is the Yucatán signature, inherited from the Spanish picadillo tradition and Maya cooks who made it their own.

   Toast the almonds in a dry comal until they smell nutty and the skins start to crack. Skip this and the almonds taste raw and chalky in the finished dish.
6. 6

   Bind the filling

   Let the picadillo cool for five minutes. Stir in the breadcrumbs and the beaten eggs. The breadcrumbs absorb the rendered fat and the eggs bind everything together so the filling holds its shape when you bake it. Without this binding, the picadillo crumbles out of the chayote and the dish falls apart on the plate.

7. 7

   Stuff the chayotes

   Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Mound the picadillo generously into each chayote half, packing it lightly with the back of a spoon. Pile it higher than the rim. The filling will settle as it bakes. Arrange the stuffed halves snug in the baking dish so they hold each other upright.

8. 8

   Top with queso de bola and bake

   Cover each chayote with a generous blanket of grated queso de bola. Dot with the butter. Bake uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cheese has melted, browned in patches, and pulled away slightly from the edges of the chayote. The queso de bola gives a sharp, tangy crust that no other cheese delivers. This is the Dutch inheritance Yucatán absorbed through the port of Progreso, and it stayed. Así se hace y punto.

   Queso de bola is aged Edam, sold as a red wax-coated ball in Mexican markets and grocery stores. Do not substitute mild Edam, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack. The aged tang is the entire point. If you absolutely cannot find it, aged gouda is the closest compromise.
9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Let the chayotes rest for five minutes before serving. The filling needs that time to set so it does not slide out when you cut in. Serve in the cazuela they were baked in, two halves per person, with pickled red onion with habanero and warm corn tortillas on the side. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chayotes that are firm with smooth skin and no soft spots. The ridged green variety holds its shape better than the smooth pale one. Avoid any chayote that has started to sprout from the seed end. It will be bitter and stringy.
• •Recado rojo from the Yucatán is not the same as plain achiote paste. The real thing has garlic, cumin, oregano, clove, allspice, and black pepper already worked into the achiote. La Anita is the brand most cooks in Mérida use. Buy it at any Mexican market or order it. No me vengas con atajos.
• •This dish wants pickled red onion with habanero on the side. Slice one red onion thin, soak in lime juice and a splash of vinegar with one charred habanero and salt for an hour. That sharp, hot pickle cuts the richness of the cheese and the sweet picadillo. It is half the meal.

Advance Preparation

• •The chayotes can be boiled and hollowed one day ahead. Wrap and refrigerate the shells and the chopped pulp separately.
• •The picadillo can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. The flavors deepen overnight. Bring to room temperature before stuffing, then proceed with eggs, breadcrumbs, and baking on serving day.
• •Once stuffed and topped with cheese, the chayotes should go straight into the oven. Holding them assembled makes the chayote weep water into the filling and the gratin suffers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 385g)