Shrimp-Stuffed Mirlitons

Native to Central America and the Caribbean, the chayote takes its name from Nahuatl, chayotli. In Louisiana it is called “mirliton,” a name the French give to a toy musical pipe and to a Rouen pastry. Either mirliton or chayote is a far prettier word than the prosaic “vegetable pear” that most of the world calls this squash. Once cooked, the delicate but firm pale green flesh (which conceals a flat but edible seed) is good in cold salads. I once made a dazzling salad by alternating