Poached Mirliton over Ice Cream

Mirliton is transported from a crisp vegetable into a decadent sauce that is spiced with warm notes of anise, cloves, and cinnamon. It is a perfect way to get the flavors of fall without being a heavy dessert.

My Armo challenged me to make a “Louisiana dessert” that is gluten free. There’s probably only a handful or two of “Louisiana desserts” I know and most of them have … gluten. I decided to take liberties and create a modern dessert.

Mirliton is a beloved neutral-flavored vegetable in South Louisiana and easily takes on other flavors. I decided to pair it with satsuma, anise, cloves, cinnamon, cayenne, and cane syrup which are all flavors that are common in Louisiana.

Most poaching sauces are thin. This one starts out thin, but is cooked down until a thick syrup or caramel consistency.

Poached Mirliton Ingredients
1 mirliton (chayote squash)
1 ½ tsp satsuma zest
⅔ c satsuma juice
1 ⅓ c water
1 star anise
⅛ tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1/16 tsp cayenne
1/16 tsp salt
½ c cane syrup

Poached Mirliton Directions
Slice off both ends of the mirliton. Stand it upright and slice off the peel.

Slice the mirliton in half pole to pole and remove the seed. Cut it into ¼” cubes.

Put all of the ingredients into an 8” frying pan. Bring it to a simmer and leave the pan uncovered for about 90 minutes. The mirliton should be softer but still relatively firm and the liquid should be thick. The exact thickness doesn’t matter much since this is an unknown dish. Just know the thicker the liquid, the more concentrated the flavor will be. 

Allow the sauce to come to room temperature or refrigerate it before serving over ice cream.

Notes
You can use mandarins or oranges in place of the satsumas.

If you don’t have cane syrup, you can use maple syrup, molasses and sugar, honey, etc. You’ll need to adjust the sweetener amount based on how sweet the sweetener of choice is.