My mom got a bunch of fresh home grown vegetables from a friend of hers.  She gave me some of it, and there was mystery package included.  It was a lumpy package wrapped in several layers of newspaper.  In it were 3 squash.  They were very soft and squishy, like they were rotting inside.  I was like, wtf is this mom?  The name she said translated to silk melon.  I’d never heard of it, so I looked it up.  It is also known as silk squash, Chinese okra, luffa, loofah, and some other names.  Wait, loofah/luffa?!  I’ve seen that before.  At some Chinese restaurants, I’ve seen loofah or luffa on the menu.  I always assumed it was an Engrish blooper or a bad translation.  But, lo and behold!  This here is the loofah!

My mom told me to peel it.  I tried…  but it was so soft that the peeler kept taking chunks out of it, and it looked pretty terrible after the peeling.  I couldn’t even peel the ends because they were so soft.  I read more about it after I peeled it.  Turns out I could have left the skin on.  If the squash is older and tougher, then you should peel it.  Oops.  I bent the squash to show you how squishy it is,

I cut them into .75 inch pieces.

I got my aromatics here: shallots and half a head of garlic sliced thin.

I had a pack of thick cut bacon that I’ve been meaning to use up for a while.  I cut them up into 1 inch pieces and put them in my French oven on medium heat.  The bacon was very fatty and I overcrowded the pot, so it took a while for all the bacon to render, maybe 30-40 minutes.  I just let it sizzle, and stirred and flipped the pieces every few minutes.

After the fat rendered out of the bacon, I scooped the bacon out and poured out most of the bacon fat to save for future dishes.  Look, it looks like bacon soup.  I dare you to drink that.  No, please don’t do that, I was kidding.

I cooked the shallots and garlic in the remaining bacon fat for about a minute until they started turning golden brown.

I added the loofah and seasoned with salt and pepper.  Then I covered the pot and let it cook for about 5 minutes.  My mom told me that the squash will emit a lot of liquid, so no need to add any cooking liquid.

After the loofah turned translucent and got real juicy, I mixed in the crispy bacon.

Here is my opinion of this dish that I totally made up using an unknown main ingredient.  It tasted ok, I mean, imagine a squishy zucchini mixed with crispy bacon chunks.   I particularly liked eating the loofah seeds.  They were tender and I liked the popping sensation they gave when I bit into them.  I wasn’t a big fan of the loofah though.  The loofah itself had a mild flavor that soaked up other flavors well.  But it had a slightly gelatinous and slimy texture and mouthfeel that reminds me of okra, and I’m not a fan of okra.  I actually liked the end pieces better since they still had the peel, because the peel gave it a crisper texture.  So there it is.   I won’t go out of my way to cook and eat loofah, but it’s cool that I now know what loofah is.

If you want to experience loofah yourself, here is what I did.  Or you can just order it the next time you see it at a Chinese restaurant.  It’ll probably taste and look better since they actually know how to handle the loofah.

Bacon and Loofah
Ingredients
– 3 loofah
– 1 pack of thick cut bacon
– 1 shallot
– half a head of garlic
– salt
– pepper

Directions
– Cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces.  Render the bacon in the pot over medium heat.  Stir occasionally.  Once the fat renders out of the bacon, remove the bacon.  Leave a thin layer of fat  in the pot and pour the rest into a separate bowl to save.
– Cut the loofah into .75 inch pieces, if they are young, there is no need to peel them.
– Slice the shallot and garlic into thin slices.
– Fry the shallots and garlic in the pot for about 1 minute, or until they turn golden brown.  Add the loofah and season with salt and pepper.  Cover the pot for about 5 minutes until the loofah turns translucent and juicy.  Mix in the bacon and serve.