Barbie. A Triceratops. A Squash. And Quinoa Choyote Cherry Cake

Barbie says, harvest the smallest choyote so you can eat the entire squash -- skin, seeds and all.

Large choyote require peeling

and seeding.

Mom's hands and the cake in a loaf pan.

Much cuter baked in remekins.

The Stuff:

1 cup quinoa

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 choyote the size of apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup dark brown organic sugar

3/4 cup cherries

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 teaspoon ground ginger                                                                                                                                               

The Work: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the quinoa with plenty of water and bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes or until quinoa is tender and the seeds' "tails" (the little white part) are beginning to uncurl. Drain well and set aside.
3. Dip a pastry brush in the melted butter and use it to grease the inside of a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan or 10 little white ramekins, which I prefer for their cute factor.
4. Put the remaining melted butter in a large bowl, and mix with brown sugar and cherries until evenly distributed.
5. Add choyote and cooked quinoa and stir to combine.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger and nutmeg.
7. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to evenly combine.
8. Scrape the mixture into the prepared loaf pan or ramekins and bake for 50 minutes if in a loaf pan and 43 minutes if in ramekins, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the top of the cake is golden brown.
9. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely before cutting to help cake maintain its shape.  Serve with homemade whipped cream.

Adapted from Home Made Winter.

Grow your own so you may harvest small.

Try Share -- Kauaians Do It Best

Across the corrugated tin "fence" that separates our yard from Priscilla and Henry's orchard, I receive a 2 x 2 foot box filled with mountain apples. 

The tree she stands beneath is massive; it must top out at 40 feet and is at least 10 across. The blossoms fall in hot pink strands that carpet the soil, in what I imagine, any 6 year-old girl would drool to have on her bedroom floor.

Such a vibrant tree putting out a pretty fruit that's disappointingly bland. This strange fruit is more pear than apple really; the flesh is soft and its shape too, reminds me of a pear. 

Priscilla routinely gives me quantities of whatever is fruiting in her yard. I can't possibly keep up with her generosity, so I try to come up with new ways to hand her a bit of her own harvest back over the fence. 

I've baked with mountain apples in the past, with mediocre results. But this time I'm armed with a new discovery, a book given to me by my husband earlier this month: Home Made Winter, by Yvette Van Boven. I could gush shamelessly about the charm, reliability and genius of this tome, but I'll leave it to you to visit for yourself. 

So far I've followed her guidance on making yogurt, butter, cakes, and now for the mountain apple, her chutney. I replace the apples with mountain apples and the tomatoes with canned tomatoes. I am also a fan of the organic dark brown sugar for its molasses content. The results were fantastic. Chutney is an Indian condiment, but for me it's divine on buttered bread or as my friend Meg advised, a fun addition to her coleslaw. Regardless, it's a wonderful remedy for an abundance of fruit.

In a second batch I made use of the choyote squash; farmers markets are overflowing with them right now. I used equal amounts of each. 

Mountain Apple Chutney

21/4 lb mountain apples or equal amounts choyote and the apple

2 cans of diced tomatoes with juice

2 onions

2 clove garlic

1/2 cup golden raisins

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon black or yellow mustard seeds 

12 tablespoon hot style curry powder

a grind of nutmeg

2 teaspoon salt

21/2 cups cider vinegar

In a large pot place the diced fruit in 21/2 cups water. Simmer for 25 minutes. Don't allow to dry out. Add a bit more water if necessary. 

Add remaining ingredients. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 3 hours. Stir occasionally.

Spoon the hot chutney into sterilized jars. Makes around 41/2 cups and fills three large jars and one small. Wash double lidded jars in soapy water, rinse and put in a 285 degree oven for 10 minutes. Don't use metal lids, as they react with the acid of the tomato.

Seal and set them upside-down until cool. Yvette suggests waiting a month to eat. I gave away and my impatient friends said they ate immediately and loved it. So there ya go!

When it comes to these green gems, bigger isn't better -- Choyote Squash Tacos

A missing onion for one of my standard taco fillings led to a nice alteration. This simple combination of sauteed choyote squash and eggplant worked well in a corn tortilla piled with sunflower sprouts from farmers market, and these pickled red onions from Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook. 

A prolific vine of choyote squash grew wild in my backyard for nearly a decade, then suddenly disappeared. Luckily I see them at farmer’s markets regularly; with one cautionary note regarding the size available there. There is a trick to choosing and preparing them: eat the babies, avoid the adults. Baby choyote should fit in your palm. They are simple to prepare since the entire squash is edible. You can eat the skin of the young squash and the seed too.  

The adult fruit, on the other hand, requires peeling and seeding, which doesn’t sound hard to do, right? Well, there’s a sticky substance between the meat and the skin. The glue gets all over my fingers and doesn’t wash off without serious scrubbing. It’s pretty annoying. In the adult squash the seed has hardened, so you must slice around the pear-shaped seed. The flavor of the larger fruit tastes the same, it’s just more work.

Choyote Eggplant Tacos

3 Tbl. olive oil

4 small diced Japanese eggplant

2 small diced choyote squash with skin and seed

1 tsp. each of chili powder, oregano and cumin (Optional)

Salt to taste

Corn Tortillas

Sunflower sprouts

Molly Kazen's pickled red onion

Heat oil,  then sauté eggplant 4 to 5 minutes until tender. Add choyote and continue to sauté 2 to 3 more minutes. Choyote are naturally sweet, so don't over cook. They have such a nice crunch when al dente. Also, eggplant and choyote are such a complimentary pairing, if you're looking for a neutral palette, they really don't need the spices.