Melon and Cho Cho Salad

I subbed sliced almonds (I toasted them lightly). And my shallots were very strong so I gave them a 20-min ice bath and they mellowed out very nicely. I sliced both the melon and the squash on the mandolin; thinner setting for the squash.

Seems like In Louisiana you can only get chayote around the holidays. We call them Mirlitons (but pronounce that Mel-i-ton) and stuff them with shrimp for Thanksgiving. Since it’s August, I used an avocado instead because it was there and the salad was really good!

Holly, I made this salad with yellow patty pan squash subbed for the chayote. Delicious! I sliced it this and did not take the seeds out. I have made this twice. We love it. I also used red onion sliced thinly (instead of shallot) and soaked in some warm water before assembling the salad. I made these substitutions because it is what I had on hand. But I thought the colors of the salad; red onion, creamy white and yellow of squash, orange melon and green mint were so beautiful together.

I really enjoyed this. Great flavor profile. I added thinly sliced radish and used rice wine vinegar because that's the only white-ish vinegar I had. I can't always find a decent chayote, so next time I might try it with zucchini or cucumber. I might also try making it with jicama as a salsa fresca.

If you don’t have a mandolin, a vegetable peeler will slice the chayote pretty well.

This was fantastic! My husband and I both loved it. I am out in a rural area so I had to find a substitute for chayote. I used a yellow patty pan squash and it was lovely. I will look for chayote when I am in a city again but for anyone who has trouble finding it, try a patty pan squash-I used as is and sliced thin. Also didn't have a shallot so I used 1/3 of a medium sized red onion sliced thin and soaked in water for 5 min. It was a pretty salad and delicious too.

Recommend saving your macrons almonds for something else. The vinaigrette takes away the special special from these little darlings. Will try slivered almonds next time. And will tear the mint leaves to spread the flavor.

If you can't find chayote, jicama will substitute quite well.

Any recommended substitutes for the cantaloupe? It is my absolute least favorite food. Can’t stand it…but I love the idea of this salad!

When I lived in Barbados I would chop raw chaired and and add to tuna salads, ratatouille, just about everything. I even subbed out apples and made a chayote pie.

This looks wonderful! Will try it soon. For any Australians out there, this is Rock melon and Choko salad. In Austrlia, chokos are cheap as chips and tend to become a nuisance in the garden as they take over the veggie patch, but lovely baked in a gratin or just steamed and served with butter and lemon.

@Holly - the NYT Cooking newsletter suggests substituting cucumber, jicama, or additional melon.

some folks are quite skin sensitive to raw chayote sap (why they are often sold in individual plastic bags) so use care peeling raw chayote. Slice in half through the fold in the bottom, the seed is soft and sort of mago-seed like. When we eat them raw, we blanch the halves before peeling and slicing.

Holly, NY Times notes say that if you can’t use chayote, try jicama, cucumber, or more melon.

Substitutions: from the email: You could sub in slices of crunchy jicama or cucumber, or add in more of your favorite melon