Chayote Squash Mousse with Mussels

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This Chayote squash mousse is great for seafood and gluten-free (no carbs) dinner parties, it can be served cold or warm. The creamy texture of the chayote creates a smooth mousse which is flavoured with seafood and its sweetness contrasted by the bitterness of the Cime di Rapa. This recipe is from my uncle Nicola Zerbi and to make the dish more festive, I substitute Cime di Rapa with edible flowers Begonia.

What is Chayote squash

Chayote squash sounds exotic but it is grown locally and is widely available in Mediterranean countries. It was introduced to Europe after the discovery of America and has very well adapted to the local climate. It is very easy to grow, like a squash, but it requires a lot of water. I guess this is why it is so expensive to buy.

The chayote squash, called Chocho in the Caribbean and Coko in Australia and New Zeland, is also known as Mirliton Squash. It might look unusual but you should not be intimidated. It is just a variety of zucchini and you can cook it the same way.

It has only one big seed in the centre and its pulp is very sticky, like zucchini but a crunchier and stickier pulp. That is why when you boil it and blend it, it makes a wonderful foamy soup.

Therefore, this recipe does not need any carbs to thicken the soup, it is carb-free and low calorie.

Cahoyte and seafood

Cahoyte has a peculiar characteristic, it is totally tasteless and is, therefore, a great base for delicate soups like this one.

This soup is made with a delicate fish fumet blended with mussel juice, the creaminess of the chayote and the sweet flavour of the seafood is balanced by the bitterness of the Cime di Rapa or edible flowers Begonia.

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!

What are Cime di Rapa

Cime di Rapa node, also called Rapini is commonly marketed in the United States as broccoli raab/rabe. They are very specific Italian vegetables and they are not easy to find, not even on the French border with Italy.

They look like little broccoli but have a bitter taste. In Italy, they are served stir-fried with 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.

Making this recipe

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

1. Fish fumet
2. Mussels and their juices
3. Chayote mousse

So first let’s get started with the fish fumet

Making the fish fumet

As I mentioned earlier, the Chayote has a very bland flavour, so what really makes the flavour of this soup is the fish fumet.

The difference between a general stock and a fumet is that the main ingredient is first roasted or stir-fried. The flavour of the fumet is more intense than a general stock, and in this recipe works perfectly.

If you want to take a short cut you can use fish stock or buy it at the store.

To make the fumet you can buy a small fish, here I use gurnards. Don’t worry about the fish bones, we will just use the stock, not the meat from the fish.

Keep strictly to the cooking time, seafood should never be overcooked as it will get tough and develop a bitter flavour.

You can make the fumet ahead of time and either keep in the fridge for 1 day or freeze it.

Ingredients

• 1 small fish to make the fumet
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups dry white wine

First, we roast the fish in the oven

1. Put the gurnard in a small roasting pan with salt and pepper.
2. Add 1 cup of white wine and 4 cherry tomatoes cut into pieces.
3. Put the fish in a hot oven at 180 C for 20 minutes.

4. In the meantime, stir fry a small onion and 3 chopped cherry tomatoes in a large pan to make the fish stock.
5. Once the gurnard is done transfer it in the stock pan and add 1 spoon of concentrated tomato sauce (optional).
6. To keep all the flavors of the roasting fish, pour some water in the roasting pan to deglaze it.
7. Pour the water over the fish and add ½ cup of white wine.
8. Let it simmer for 20 minutes.

9. Strain the fumet with a paper cloth and let it cool off completely.

Preparing the mussels

How to choose and cook 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 if you are lucky your fingers will be sore but not bleeding.

Personally I always try to avoid them 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, once dead they will be infected.

Here is how to make sure fresh mussels are alive:

• Fresh mussels should always be closed and cannot be open 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 when you touch them they close and will not open if you try, they are fine to eat.

How to cook the fresh mussels

In this recipe, I make 1 lb – 500 gr of mussels as they sell them in such quantity, but you only need a small amount. I would usually freeze the leftover juice and use the fresh mussels in another recipe.

In this occasion, I used them to make my next soup with edible flowers challenge: a seafood chowder.

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

The ingredients are:

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

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 times 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. but keep the water.

Important points when cooking the mussels

• 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 open the mussels are cooked
• Do not overcook the mussels, 2 to 3 minutes are enough.
• If some mussels are still not open remove the opened one and cook only the closed ones.
• Any mussels that remain closed even after cooking them should be discarded
• Remove any broken open mussels after you have cooked them, but do not worry if you find some once you finished cooking them. The rest of the mussels will not be infected.

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.

Cooking the chayote squash

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

If you are using cime di rapa

1. Clean and boil the Cime di Rapa for 10 minutes in a separate pan with a tsp of salt.
2. When done, drain them and put them in iced water to preserve their nice green colour.

Putting together the mussels and the mousse

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 1/3 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 mussels mousse

Once the mousse is ready, just pour it into the dishes and decorate with a few mussels and cime di rapa or Begonia edible flowers.

Drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and 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

• Chayote is just a zucchini squash with one big seed in the centre. You can substitute it with other zucchini but you may not get the same consistency of the mousse
• The chayote has needles in their skin, make sure they have been removed before you touch them. They usually do this at the supermarket
• You can easily grow chayote in a climate similar to the Mediterranean, but they need a lot of water
• You can use chayote squash as a base for any no-carb soup you want to make!

Tips for the fish fumet

• The difference between a general stock and a fumet is that the main ingredient is first roasted or stir-fried. The flavour of the fumet is more intense than a general stock, and in this recipe works perfectly.
• If you want to take a short cut you can use fish stock.
• To make the fumet you can buy a small fish, here I use gurnards. Don’t worry about the fish bones, we will just use the stock, not the meat from the fish.
• Keep strictly to the cooking time, seafood should never be overcooked as it will get tough and develop a bitter flavour.
• You can make the fumet ahead of time and either keep in the fridge for 1 day or freeze it.

Tips for the mussels

• Mussels 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
• Try to avoid them during the hot season
• Fresh mussels should be cooked alive, once dead they will be infected.

Here is how to make sure fresh mussels are alive:

• • Fresh mussels should always be closed and cannot be open 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 when you touch them they close and will not open if you try, they are fine to eat.
• 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 open the mussels are cooked
• Do not overcook the mussels, 2 to 3 minutes are enough. If some mussels are still not open remove the opened one and cook only the closed ones.
• Any mussels that remain closed even after cooking it should be discharged
• Remove any broken open mussels after you have cooked them, but do not worry if you find some once you finished cooking them. The rest of the mussels will not be infected.

Tips for putting it all together

• The water from the mussels is naturally salted. Taste and add more fish fumet or mussels water accordingly until you reach your desired taste and texture

Substituting Cime di Rapa with edible flowers Begonia

Edible flowers are a wonderful decoration to use for a festive dinner party. Not only they add colour to a special dish but also a unique taste.

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

I like to use them in salads or soup, but it is very important to choose the right combination of flavours. Some flowers have a garlicky or peppery flavour and will only go with savoury dishes, while others have a more acidic flavour and can be combined with sweet dishes as well.

Edible flowers Begonia

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

What else can you do with Begonia

It is up to your imagination, I recommend using them raw for decorating your final dishes. You can add them to any recipe you want to contrast with acidity.

They could be used on desserts, to decorate a creamy cake or a sweet Pavlova and add some contrast to their taste.

Where can you buy edible flowers?

Unfortunately, edible flowers are not yet available in all supermarkets and mostly you will find them in shops that serve professionals chefs, like Metro in France and Italy. Unfortunately, you can only buy in these shops if you have a business licence.

Although edible flowers are slowly appearing in Supermarkets, they are still a novelty. In France, you might find them in some Grand Frais supermarket and I was told that Whole Foods Market has them in the USA.

I am looking for more information, so if you know where to find edible flowers near you, please share the information with a comment below. Thank you for helping!

NT: Only use edible flowers that are grown to be eaten. Flowers grown for decoration may have been treated with dangerous chemicals

Here are the edible flowers I am featuring in my posts:

1. Nasturtium Capucines: papery taste
2. Begonia: bitter taste
3. Agastache: anise taste
4. Tulbaghia: garlicky taste

More recipes with edible flowers

If you are interested in edible flower recipes, I have many here for you. You can find sweet as well as savoury recipes. Make sure you pick flowers that are safe to eat. Even if they are edible, they should not have been treated with chemicals.

Savoury recipes:

• Fried zucchini flowers
• Italian zucchini frittata with flowers
• Roast Pumpkin Soup With Edible Flowers Capucines
• Fresh Tomato Soup Salmorejo With Edible Flowers Tulbaghia
• Seafood Chowder Recipe Served In A Bread Bowl With Edible Flowers Agastache

Sweet recipes:

• Homemade crystallized violets
• Swiss roll with crystallized violets
• Beignet d’Acacia Flower

If you are making the chayote squash recipe with Mussels with Edible Flowers, 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.

📋Chayote Squash Mousse with Mussels

Best served cold. When eating the sweetness of the mussel will be balanced by the acidity of the Cime di Rapa, all softly bounded by the Chayote mousse.

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

⏲️Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Servings: 4 people

Print Pin Rate

Author: Laura Tobin

Ingredients

1x2x3x

US Customary – Metric

Mousse

• 3 chayotes
• 1 peeled garlic cloves
• 10 cime di rapa node

Mussels

• 1 lb mussels
• 1 clove peeled garlic cloves
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Fish fumet

• 1 small fish to make the fumet here I use gurnards
• 2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste (optional)
• salt & pepper
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Equipment

• Cutting board set
• Wooden Turner Set
• All-Clad Sauce Pan 3-Quart
• All-Clad Fry Pan
• Fine Mesh Strainer
• Braun blender

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Instructions

Fish fumet/Stock

• Put the gurnard in a small roasting pan with salt and pepper.
• Add 1 cup of white wine and 4 cherry tomatoes cut into pieces.
• Put the fish in a hot oven at 180 C for 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, stir fry a small onion and 3 chopped cherry tomatoes in a large pan to make the fish stock.
• Once the gurnard is done transfer it in the stock pan and add 1 spoon of concentrated tomato sauce.
• To keep all the flavors of the roasting fish, pour some water in the roasting pan to deglaze it.
• Pour the water over the fish and add ½ cup of white wine.
• Let it simmer for 20 minutes.
• Strain the fumet with a paper cloth and let it cool off completely.

Mousse

• In the meantime peel the Chayotes and cut them in small cubes.
• Boil the chayote with 1 tsp of salt for 20 minutes.
• Once the Chayote is cooked, drain it and transfer it in a bowl to cool completely.

If you are using cime di rapa

• Clean and boil the Cime di Rapa for 10 minutes in a separate pan with a tsp of salt.
• When done, drain them and put them in iced water to preserve their nice green colour.

Prepare the mussels

• In a frying pan, stir fry 1 sliced clove of garlic.
• Put in the mussels and stir fry covered until they are all open.
• Stir from times to times
• Add 1 cup of white wine and let it simmer for 1 minute until it evaporates
• When they are ready, remove the mussel but keep the water.
• Strain the water through a paper cloth and let it rest so that any residual of sand will fall at the bottom.
• The water from the mussels is naturally salted and will be used instead of salt to season the Chayote mousse.
• Clean the mussels and put them aside.

Creating a balanced flavour

• Now 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.
• To start add ½ cup of mussels water and 1/3 of fish fumet to the Chayote and blend.
• Taste and add more fish fumet or mussels water accordingly until you reach the desired taste and texture.
• Pour the mousse in the serving bowl and add 4 mussels and 4 Cime di Rapa per plate to garnish.

Video

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Notes

Tips to make this Chayote squash recipe

Tips for the chayote

• Chayote is just a zucchini squash with one big seed in the centre. You can substitute it with other zucchini but you may not get the same consistency of the mousse
• The chayote has needles in their skin, make sure they have been removed before you touch them. They usually do this at the supermarket
• You can easily grow chayote in a climate similar to the Mediterranean, but they need a lot of water
• You can use chayote squash as a base for any no-carb soup you want to make!

Tips for the fish fumet

• The difference between a general stock and a fumet is that the main ingredient is first roasted or stir-fried. The flavour of the fumet is more intense than a general stock, and in this recipe works perfectly.
• If you want to take a short cut you can use fish stock.
• To make the fumet you can buy a small fish, here I use gurnards. Don’t worry about the fish bones, we will just use the stock, not the meat from the fish.
• Keep strictly to the cooking time, seafood should never be overcooked as it will get tough and develop a bitter flavour.
• You can make the fumet ahead of time and either keep in the fridge for 1 day or freeze it.

Tips for the mussels

• Mussels 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
• Try to avoid them during the hot season
• Fresh mussels should be cooked alive, once dead they will be infected.

Here is how to make sure fresh mussels are alive:

• • • Fresh mussels should always be closed and cannot be open 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 when you touch them they close and will not open if you try, they are fine to eat.
• 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 open the mussels are cooked
• Do not overcook the mussels, 2 to 3 minutes are enough. If some mussels are still not open remove the opened one and cook only the closed ones.
• Any mussels that remain closed even after cooking it should be discharged
• Remove any broken open mussels after you have cooked them, but do not worry if you find some once you finished cooking them. The rest of the mussels will not be infected.

Tips for putting it all together

• The water from the mussels is naturally salted. Taste and add more fish fumet or mussels water accordingly until you reach your desired taste and texture

Nutrition

Calories: 185kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 208mg | Potassium: 515mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 245IU | Vitamin C: 19.6mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 3.2mg

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