Shark fin melon?

[bixaorellana]

Or ~~
Siam pumpkin
Thai marrow
Thin Vermicelli pumpkin
Asian pumpkin
fig-leaf gourd (also fig-leafed or fig-leaved gourd)
pie melon (in Australia and New Zealand)
Malabar gourd or squash
Chilacayote (in Mexico and parts of Central America)
Chiverre (in Costa Rica)
Calabaza china (Chinese pumpkin) (Cuba)
shark fin melon (in Asia)
sambo (in Ecuador)
cayote (in Argentina)
chila or gila (in Portugal)
calabaza de cabello de angel (angel's hair pumpkin) (in Spain)
potiron cheveux d'ange (angel's hair pumpkin)(in France)
Alcayota (in Chile)
Cabell d'Àngel (angel's hair) (in Catalan)

I have one I bought yesterday which is quite big -- about the size of the average watermelon. I'm a big fan of the local beverage made with it, but want to do something else with it.

I've already cut it in half & prepped one half by extracting the seeds & spaghetti squash-like guts. The meaty parts are in hunks in a big pressure cooker, the seeds ready to be salted & boiled prior to drying, & the "spaghetti" in a pot while I think.

One use of the squash is in faux shark's fin soup. I won't be making that, as I don't have the ingredients. (don't even know what wolfberries are)

Another Asian use is to make a sweet drink with the squash & barley. Probably nice, but no.

So far my thoughts are running to simply steaming the flesh portion & using it in some conventional western squash ways. But I'm thinking of using the strand portion as a substitute for glass noodles. Any thoughts? I have some smoked turkey & all kinds of vegetables, so even if the ersatz noodles come out boring, it won't be a lost cause.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbita_ficifolia

[auntieannie]

watch that film, Bixabella! This vegetable (or is it a fruit?) has a role in it.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0847830/

[bixaorellana]

Hey -- that looks pretty good!

It reminded me of a listserve I used to be on. One member was from England & her husband from Sicily. She had everyone in their northern England allotment group growing cucuzzi -- they even had competitions for it.

[bixaorellana]

Well, half of the fleshy part of the melon is cooked. I cut up the other half & put it in a bag for when the pot is free again. Just that half, with all of its middle gone, weighs 2 kilos!

I'd found quite a few recipes for the fake fin soup, all of which mentioned how the squash flesh would resemble shark fin when cooked. I don't know what the real thing is like, but the yes, the squash meat does separate into strands. I took a little of it & sprinkled on cinnamon, ginger, chile-limon, & moscovado sugar -- a nice little pick-me-up.

Some of it is getting ready to be cooked with ground pork, bell pepper, onion & a little cheese. Perhaps it needs a binder of bread crumbs or rolled oats.

[Don Cuevas]

"Cabell d'Àngel (angel's hair) (in Catalan)"

That reminded me that in parts of Spain, the angel's hair is candied or preserved, and used as a filling in pastries, of which I have no acquaintance,

[bixaorellana]

You can find it candied here, DonC -- stiff with dried syrup on the outside & still soft within. Shall I send you some?

[Deleted]

Hmmm... that is quite a strange item. Not being a fan of squash, I can't think of many ways to make it palatable, but as long as it is a minority ingredient in a dish, it looks edible. Not the seeds, perhaps.

[bixaorellana]

It is strange stuff, but good. The plain steamed meat is somewhat sweet. It's a very wet vegetable -- not at all like a winter squash.

I'm actually munching the seeds even as I type. I boiled them in salted water yesterday & left them, undrained, in the fridge overnight. This morning I drained & rinsed them, then put them out in the sun to dry. They're quite nice -- you can eat husk & all.

Last night's meal was good. I made it all in a big skillet, dry-roasting rolled oats & anise seeds first, then pushing them to the sides in order to add a little olive oil & some bell pepper, onion, carrot, chile, & garlic. When that was well sauteed, I put in ground pork, minced fresh sage, salt, & black pepper. Once that browned, I put in the already cooked chilacayote flesh, cutting it into cubes and stirring it in. I added in some of the liquid from steaming it & covered the skillet. Once the oats were well plumped, I added in a little cut up cheese. It was very nice. Pre-toasting the oatmeal meant there was no excess of gummy liquid. You all will recognize this as a version of stuffing for a vegetable. It would be perfect that way, or even just in a casserole dish covered with bread crumbs & baked for a bit. Delicious as it was, it looked like a healthy version of Hamburger Helper.

There was quite a bit of steamed squash meat left, so I added muscovado sugar & whole spices to the pot & made a Mexican style treat.

Seeds, life-size:


Bowl of sticky yumminess:


You can see some tangerine peel, whole spices, & raisins in it:


The spaghetti-ish strands:

[Don Cuevas]

Mar 2, 2012 0:20:51 GMT bixaorellana said:

You can find it candied here, DonC -- stiff with dried syrup on the outside & still soft within. Shall I send you some?

Thanks, but please, don't! We have lots of candied chilacayote around here. It's cloyingly sweet. The bees buzzing on it are free.

[bixaorellana]

This is turning into a horror movie. I knew & had accepted that I still had half the thing raw & would deal with it tomorrow. But earlier today I was taking something out of the fridge & thought, "What's in that pot?" I'd spaced out -- or repressed -- the fact that, even after making a monster skillet supper and even after producing a great deal of stringy compote, there was still steamed squash lurking ominously.

[Don Cuevas]

Mar 3, 2012 2:24:42 GMT bixaorellana said:

This is turning into a horror movie. I knew & had accepted that I still had half the thing raw & would deal with it tomorrow. But earlier today I was taking something out of the fridge & thought, "What's in that pot?" I'd spaced out -- or repressed -- the fact that, even after making a monster skillet supper and even after producing a great deal of stringy compote, there was still steamed squash lurking ominously.

Can it or make dulces from it. ;D

[bixaorellana]

Oh absolutely. I think I'll cut the dulces into little shapes, nestle them into tiny fluted paper cups, then send them to you along with some of those delightful Spanish sweets made with egg yolk & sugar.

And where the heck is HW when I need him? I thought the first reply in this thread would be HW waxing eloquent about the joys of fake 魚翅, possibly including a hand-written secret recipe from an ancient lady in Phnom Penh.

[auntieannie]

bixa... I think your freezer is trying to have a conversation with you.

[bixaorellana]

I gave the cut up, uncooked half to a neighbor. That left me with a very full pot of already steamed stuff. I took some of it and pulled it into strings, then made a stir fry of bell pepper, carrots, radish, cecina (thinly sliced, slightly salted pork) with gobs of garlic, ginger, & hot red pepper. When the pork was done, I threw in the strings, then added some onions & soy sauce followed by a cornstarch binder with a little oyster sauce & balsamic vinegar. It was really good with those stand-in noodles, but would have been outstanding with the addition of some pineapple.

[hwinpp]

I have no clue about that thing. So I preferred to remain silent and not show my ignorance...

But then yesterday, when I was driving north, I saw the exact same thing as in your picture! But I couldn't stop! I will if I can, on my way back.

Haven't had real sharks fin soup since I was a child, my family as been boycotting it for decades.

[hwinpp]

What we've got here is similar to your thing, Bix.



They eat it as a sweet here too but the seeds are wgite and they can eat it raw or cooked with palm sugar. It doesn't get stringy either.

[bixaorellana]

Gad -- when I was looking up "shark fin melon" I came across some graphic images of exactly why people would boycott it.

I guess the one in your picture is a different squash. Even though the stuff was pretty effective in a stir fry, I could see why the preferred method of dealing with it is to cook the bejesus out of it. The less cooked strings want to slide down your throat before you have a chance to chew them out of the string state.

[hwinpp]

Ug, sounds like eating a handful of earth worms...

[Deleted]

Just put it in a juicer and be done with it.

[auntieannie]

now you're being facetious, K2! ;D