Chuchu is a well-known vegetable in many countries under a lot of different names, but I’m guessing chayote will sound more familiar. Where my father is from in the Philippines, it’s called sayote. It’s part of the gourd family, along with melons, cucumbers, and squash. When I first saw a chuchu at the grocery store about two years ago, I really didn’t know what to make of it. It looked like a toothless grandpa. What on earth do you do with it??
Well, I can tell you, this vegetable’s grown on me, as the saying goes. It’s sometimes spiky on the outside which makes it difficult to hold and cut, but once you open it up it has a great fresh smell, like a cucumber. And just like cucumber and potato, it doesn’t have much of a taste, but it can be used as a texture substitute for potato in soups. It’s less starchy than potato, so if you prefer a thinner soup with fewer calories, this is the vegetable to use.
These chuchus were given to my mother-in-law, and they’re big! (And no spikes.) She passed on some of them to us, which will make their way into soups. ‘Tis the season.
Robalo is sea bass, one of my favourite kinds of fish widely available in Portugal, along with dourada (sea bream). My father-in-law grilled the robalo outside for today’s lunch. Ice was Chief Inspector, as usual.
Here’s a better example of what robalo looks like, presentation-wise, when it’s oven-baked at Mother-in-Law Restaurante.
October 17, 2015
Album: Portugal [Autumn 2015]
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