Chayote don't bite...I promise

When I was a kid, my grandfather and I were climbing in a tree where the vines from a chayote squash had grown quite high. We wanted to harvest every last one of them so that my grandmother could cook them up and we could eat them.
My friend Patrick rode by on his bike and looked up at us in the tree. “What are y’all doing?” he called up. “Trying to get the chayotes out of the tree,” I answered. He stood there for a few minutes watching us. Finally, he asked, “Do they bite?”
My grandfather, who nearly fell out of the tree laughing, made him go in and try some prepared chayote.
Patrick, who usually didn’t eat anything but meat and potatoes, just knew he wouldn’t like it. He didn’t like green things, he assured my grandmother. And, certainly didn’t like squash. But you can’t tell a Sicilian woman you don’t want to eat.
He reluctantly ate some Chayote Rellano and loved it. (This is not, by the way, a Sicilian recipe – it’s Mexican. There have never been any ethnic boundaries in my family members’ kitchens. We’ve always picked from a universal menu.)
I guess if you wanted a chayote meal with a little “bite”, you could add a little chipotle or habanero to the mix.

Chayote Rellano

3 chayotes
3 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup sweet sherry or cooking wine
1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup seedless raisins
1 cup sugar
4 cups fine bread crumbs
· Cut the chayotes in half lengthwise and place them in a 2 to 3-quart saucepan. Cover them with cold water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes or until the flesh is soft enough to poke with a fork. Drain the squash in a colander.
· When the chayotes are cool enough to handle, remove the seeds with a small spoon and scoop out the pulp, leaving a layer of pulp about 1/8 inch thick in the shell.
· In a large mixing bowl, mash the pulp with a fork until it’s perfectly smooth. Then beat in, a little at a time, the eggs, sherry and ground nutmeg. Add the raisins, sugar and bread crumbs, and beat again. The filling should have the consistency of mashed potatoes and should hold its shape in a spoon.
· Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fill the shells with the bread crumb mixture, mounding the top slightly.
· Arrange the shells side by side in a buttered baking dish and bake for 15 minutes, or until the top of the filling is golden.

Vegan.