Chayote Soup With Mussels (gluten free)

This Chayote soup is similar to seafood chowder but is gluten- and dairy-free. The creamy texture of the chayote creates a naturally smooth texture, and there is no need to add cream or flour like in a chowder. This soup is served with mussels, and their sweetness is balanced by the bitterness of the Broccoli Rabe or edible flowers Begonia. It is perfect for dinner parties, as it can be served cold or warm.

Jump to:

• Chayote and seafood
• Ingredients
• Fish stock or fumet
• How to buy fresh mussels
• Instructions
• Serving the Chayote soup
• Top tips
• Substitution
• 📋Chayote Soup With Mussels
• Tips to make this Chayote squash recipe
• Origin of this recipe

Chayote squash sounds exotic but is grown locally and widely available in many Mediterranean countries. It is called Chocho in the Caribbean and Coko in Australia and New Zealand and is also known as Mirliton squash, vegetable pear, or mango squash.

It was introduced to Europe after the discovery of America and has adapted well to the local climate. It is very easy to grow, like a squash, although it requires a lot of water.

It has only one large seed in the center, and its pulp is very sticky, like zucchini but it has a crunchier and stickier pulp.

That is why when you boil it and blend it, it makes a beautiful foamy soup.

Chayote might look unusual, but you should not be intimidated. It is just a variety of zucchini, and you can cook it the same way.

Other recipes you can make by replacing zucchini with chayotes are: zucchini recipe pasta and ricotta, zucchini mushroom quiche, Ciambotta or Giambotta Italian vegetable stew.

Chayote and seafood

Due to the chayote creamy texture, this recipe does not need carbs to thicken the soup, and it is carb-free and low-calorie.

Although, Chayote has a peculiar characteristic; it is tasteless and is, therefore, an excellent base for mild soups like this one.

A delicate fish fumet blended with mussel juice give flavor to this soup.

The creaminess of the chayote and the sweet flavor of the seafood is balanced by the bitterness of the edible flowers Begonia or Cime di Rapa.

Ingredients

To make this recipe, you will need to prepare the following ingredients:

1. Fish stock or fumet
2. Mussels and their juices
3. Chayote mousse
4. For decoration: edible flower begonia or broccoli rabe, rapini

Fish stock or fumet

The base of this recipe is a fish stock or a fumet. The fish stock is easier to make, while the fumet requires some additional steps. While the fish stock is made by boiling fish bones with vegetables, the fish fumet has a more delicate and intense as it is flavored with wine and reduced.

You can find here the recipes, choose which one you want to use based on your time:

• Homemade fish stock
• Fish broth fumet

You can also buy fish stock already made at your fishmonger.

How to buy fresh mussels

Mussels are delicious when fresh, but they can be a dangerous source of seafood poisoning if not chosen correctly.

Buy them only at your trusted fishmonger and ask them to clean them as they are a pain in the neck to clean. They are often full of barnacles and when you try to clean them, your fingers gets sore and bleed.

Personally I always try to avoid mussels during the hot season, neither buying them or ordering them at restaurants. The heat makes seafood more susceptible to attract bacteria.

Fresh mussels should be cooked alive. If they are already dead they are dangerous to eat.

Here is how to check fresh mussels are alive:

• Fresh mussels should be closed and cannot be opened by hand no matter how hard you try
• Discharge any open or broken mussels
• Rinse them under running water one by one and throw away any open or broken mussels
• If they are open, but immediately close when you touch them, try to open them again. If you cannot reopen them, they are OK to eat.

Instructions

How to cook the mussels

In this video, I make 1 lb - 500 gr of mussels as they sell them in such quantity, but you only need a small amount for this recipe.

In this occasion, I used them to make my next soup: seafood chowder.

However, you can freeze the leftover mussel juices and serve the remaining mussels with the main, like this cod and salmon fish pie or the ultimate seafood platter.

The ingredients are:

• 1 lb - 500 gr of fresh mussels
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Fresh mussels are naturally salted, you do not need to add any salt

This is how to proceed:

1. In a frying pan, stir fry 1 sliced clove of garlic.
2. Put in the mussels and stir fry covered until they are all open.
3. Stir from time to times
4. Add 1 cup of white wine and let it simmer for 1 minute until it evaporates
5. When they are ready, remove the mussels
6. Keep the water released by the mussels while cooking.

7. Strain the water through a paper cloth and let it rest so that any residual of sand will fall at the bottom.
8. Clean the mussels and put them aside.

Top tips

• Fresh mussels are naturally salted. You do not need to add any salt
• When cooking the mussels, keep the pan covered and turn them every once in a while to make sure they will all open
• Once opened, the mussels are cooked
• Do not overcook the mussels, two to three minutes are enough.
• If some mussels are still not open, remove the opened ones from the pan and cook only the closed ones.
• Any mussels that remain closed even after cooking should be discarded
• Remove any broken open mussels after you have cooked them, but do not worry if you cooked a broken one with the others. The rest of the mussels will not be infected.

Cooking the chayote

1. Peel the chayotes
2. Remove the central seed and cut them in small cubes.
3. Boil the chayote with 1 teaspoon of salt for 20 minutes.
4. Once the Chayote is cooked, drain it and transfer it in a bowl to cool completely.

Making the soup

Once all the main components are ready, we can put it all together.

We need to mix the fish fumet, the water from the mussels and the Chayote to make the mousse. 

It is important to mix the right quantity to balance taste and consistency.

1. To start, add ½ cup of mussels water and ⅓ of fish fumet to the Chayote and blend.
2. Taste and add more fish fumet or mussels water accordingly until you reach your desired taste and texture.

Serving the Chayote soup

Once the mousse is ready, just pour it into the dishes and decorate with a few mussels and Begonia or broccoli rabe heads.

Drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and black pepper.

This soup is best served cold but it can also be served warm. When eating the sweetness of the mussel will be balanced by the acidity of the Cime di Rapa or the Begonia, all softly bounded by the Chayote mousse.

It is the perfect starter for a fancy no carbs, low calories dinner!

As main you can serve:

• Whole Sea Bream Recipe Cooked in Salt
• Trout in a parcel with lemon and parsley served with basmati rice
• Cod with potatoes

Top tips

Tips for the chayote squash

• Chayote is just a zucchini squash with one large seed in the center. You can substitute it with other zucchini, but you may not get the same smooth texture.
• The chayote has needles in their skin. Make sure they have been removed before you touch them. They usually do this at the supermarket.

Chayote is so smooth and creamy that there is no need to add potatoes or beans. This soup has no carbs, and since chayote is a squash, it is also very low on calories.

You can use chayote squash as a base for any no-carb soup you want to make!

Edible flowers Begonia

Edible flowers are an excellent decoration to use for a festive dinner party. Not only do they add color to a particular dish but also have a unique taste.

They are very versatile, and you can use them in many ways, but I prefer using them raw. Cooking edible flowers ruins their beauty, and it is their fresh, colorful look that brings joy to a dish.

The intense red color and the beautiful shape of the Begonia give such a festive look to this smooth mousse. They are the perfect combination of color as well as taste.

The Begonia has an acid taste which breaks the sweetness of the chayote and the seafood. It is so elegant floating on this light green foam, like a water lily.

Substitution

A perfect replacement for Begonia is Boccoli rabe (Cime di Rapa) as they have a similar bitter taste.

Cime di Rapa node, also called Rapini, is commonly marketed as broccoli raab/rabe in the United States.

They look like tiny broccoli but have a bitter taste. In Italy, they are served stir-fried garlic, often with Orecchiette pasta.

We Italians cook them like broccoli, and we don't remove their bitter taste as this is what we like about them.

1. Clean and boil the Cime di Rapa for 10 minutes in a separate pan with a teaspoon of salt.
2. When done, drain them and put them in iced water to preserve their lovely green color.
3. Add two to three heads in each plate

If you are making the chayote squash soup, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram or sign up to my newsletter.

Origin of this recipe

This recipe is from my uncle Nicola Zerbi