I learned to love chayote, an edible gourd that is known as pipinola here in Hawaii. You may recall that I learned to ferment with it, cook with it, and even how to breed it for the characteristics that chefs find desirable.  Here is a look at the start of one of my 10 minute meals.  When I was getting ready to travel, pipinola were ripening, so I took the time to shred the fruits in a food processor, pack into 1qt freezer bags, then squeeze out the air from the bag.  The result were a nice stack of pipinola blocks.  Today, as you see in the image, I took one of those frozen blocks, dropped it into my slow cooker, and added tomato, onion, chili pepper, taco seasoning, pumpkin and more to the mix.  I will leave it to cook all afternoon, and when I return from the farm, dinner will be waiting.  This same technique would work for chili.  The pipinola takes on the flavor of the taco spices, and acts as a great filler.  It is a great way to add vegetables to your cooking, while also making use of the fruits at your doorstep. I have plans on topping the lot with refried beans and cheese before stuffing the mix into tortillas.

I just returned home to find my neighbor telling me that he can smell my cooking down the street!  It is a homemade smell that we all want to come home to.  I just finished it by thickening it with a can of refried black beans, and some of yesterday’s rice…and I realized that this would make a great dip too!  I will be happy to eat this in many different ways in the days ahead.  Taco salad?  Maybe my kraut tacos…with scrambled eggs in a breakfast burrito.  See the bottom photo to see the transformation it made while I was at the farm trellising more pipinola vines.  Now it is time to top with cheese and test it out.