Cooking in
Alberta
Mexican
Chayotes con Natas
A quietly elegant vegetable side dish from Zacatecas, in Mexico's high central plateau. Sliced chayote — Sechium edule — is braised with serrano chile and finished in rich natas, the thick cream skimmed from scalded milk that is a prized ingredient across northern and central Mexico. The result is tender, mildly spiced, and deeply comforting: the chayote's gentle flavor absorbed into cream that clings to every slice.
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Cook
I
The Market List
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1 tablespoon
vegetable oil
Your own market
2
heaped tablespoons white onion, thinly sliced
Not yet stocked in Alberta
2 small
garlic cloves, finely chopped
Your own market
1
serrano chile, finely chopped
Not yet stocked in Alberta
Salt to taste
Your own market
1
pound (450 g) chayote (Sechium edule), peeled and thinly sliced, center seed included
Not yet stocked in Alberta
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Your own market
2/3 cup (164 ml)
water
Your own market
3/4 cup (188 ml)
natas, or crème fraîche as substitute
Not yet stocked in Alberta
II
The Method
1
Warm the oil in a wide, lidded pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and serrano with a pinch of salt. Sauté until the onion softens, 3 to 4 minutes.
From the canon — The serrano is a small, smooth-skinned fresh chile belonging to Capsicum annuum, the species domesticated in centre-east Mexico perhaps 6,500 years ago. Serrano →
2
Add the chayote slices, a few grinds of pepper, and the water. Cover and raise the heat to high. Cook approximately 8 minutes, until the chayote is firm-tender and most of the water has evaporated.
3
Stir in the natas. Cover and cook over medium heat until the chayote is fully tender and coated in cream. Taste and adjust salt.
4
Remove from heat. Leave covered and undisturbed for 15 minutes before serving.
III
Sensory Tests
◇Drag a spoon through the finished sauce in the pan: it should coat the back of the spoon in a continuous, opaque film and hold the line drawn through it for a count of three — if it floods back immediately, the natas had insufficient fat or the water was not fully reduced before the cream was added.
◇Press a chayote slice between thumb and forefinger: it should yield with slight resistance, bending without snapping and leaving no raw crunch at its centre — if it snaps clean, it is undercooked; if it disintegrates, the braise ran too long or used too much water.
◇Smell the pan at the moment the onion, garlic, and serrano finish their initial cook: there should be no browning note, only soft allium sweetness and the grassy sharpness of raw chile fading — any caramel or colour at this stage will read as bitterness once the cream reduces around it.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies in the transition between the braising stage and the addition of natas: all but a few tablespoons of the cooking water must be driven off before the cream enters the pan, because residual water thins the natas past recovery, producing a broken, greasy broth instead of a sauce that clings. Once the cream is in, heat drops immediately to low — natas do not tolerate a rolling boil.
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V
What to Pour
The pairing
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