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.

The California Sunrise Sandwich

Seated at a sun bleached wooden picnic table, we shared our first meal of blue corn chips and Trader Joe’s salsa. Three horses lazed in the shade of a Buckeye tree near a deep steel water trough. Wes was likely the only vegan cattle ranch hand for 200 miles in that cowboy dominated region outside of Porterville, California in the early 90s.

We’d met just weeks before at California Hot Springs. I was there staying in a cabin with girlfriends. He was with an L.A. buddy visiting for the weekend. Wes had fled Southern California four years before in pursuit of a quieter life. Eighteen years later, we live on Kauai, even further from the buzz of all things metropolitan. 

Over the years his contribution to our menu hasn’t grown much. In the 90’s he lived on chips and salsa, interrupted only by a sandwich recipe he developed himself.

California Sunrise Sandwich

Serve open-faced on toast, drizzled with flax oil and a sprinkle of sea salt, then smeared with chunks of avocado, topped with sprouted sunflower seeds and drizzled again, heavily, with the flax oil and more sea salt. 

Most people know the sprout in her later stages of growth, with tender white stems tipped with two bright leaves. The Sunrise Sandwich uses the sprout earlier in germination, well before chlorophyll has softened the texture and greened the flavor. The beige winged youngster has a dominant nutty flavor and more crunch.

Raw sprouted sunflower seeds are hailed for being 25% protein and lavish in zinc and vitamins B, C and E.

Sprouted Sunflower Seeds

Sprout in small batches of ½ to 1 cup. 

The flavor changes dramatically once chlorophyll forms.

Rinse one cup raw organic sunflower seeds. 

Soak overnight on the counter. Rinse, strain, then place colander over a bowl on the counter.

Cover with a kitchen clothe to inhibit sunlight. 

Eat immediately. No waiting or mollycoddling required. 

Tips: 

• Keep them in the colander for daily rinsing, set over a deep bowl for air circulation. If they turn green, toss into the garden.

• Our favorite bread for toasting is the Alvarado Street Bakery Sprouted Rye. A tangy sour dough is also delicious. On Kauai tart sour dough is hard to come by. Trader Joe’s carried our favorite back in the day. 

• Flax oil of choice is Spectrum, but it has a pour spout not easy to control for drizzling. Barlene’s has an easy squeeze style spout but a stronger flavor than Spectrum. That’s why I go to the effort of refilling the Barlene’s bottle with Spectrum flax seed oil.