Shrimp & Ham Stuffed Mirlitons

Starting with the 4 mirlitons, you have two options here. Both work about the same, but if you have thinner skinned mirlitons, I will use the baking method.
Boiled. Place the whole mirlitons in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until softened and a sharp knife meets very little resistance. This should take 30-45 minutes.
Baked. Preheat your oven to 400°F / 200°C. Cut the mirlitons in half lengthwise and place into a 13x9 baking pan, cut side down. Pour about a ½ cup of water into the pan and cover with foil. Bake for 45-55 minutes until tender.
Once the mirlitons are cooked, set aside until cool enough to handle, about 15-20 minutes.

While the mirlitons are cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Dice the yellow onion, 2 ribs celery, and green bell pepper and set aside in a bowl. Reserve all scraps. Mince 3-4 cloves of garlic, set aside and reserve the skins. Finely chop enough parsley to get 2 tablespoons worth and set aside, reserving the remaining sprigs.
Chop and dice 6-8 ounces of ham into small pieces, about ¼” or smaller and set aside. Add the seasoning to a small bowl and mix. Finally, remove the tails from the pound of shrimp and reserve them, then de-vein the shrimp if necessary. Chop the shrimp into bite-sized chunks and place into a bowl, tossing with about ⅓ of the seasoning and place the bowl in the refrigerator until needed.
In a medium saucepan, add a touch of oil and the reserved shrimp tails. Cook over medium heat until the tails are fragrant and turn red, about 2 minutes. Pour in 2 cups of water and all the reserved vegetable scraps and the remaining parsley sprigs. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer, cooking, uncovered while the mirlitons are cooking/cooling.
Reduce the stock to 1-1 ½ cups and strain the solids out with a fine mesh strainer. You only need 1 cup of the stock, so if you have over 1 ½ cups after straining, keep reducing it a bit longer.

Lower or preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C.
Set a large skillet or braising pan over medium heat and melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Add the diced onion, celery, and green bell peppers to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8-10 minutes.
While this is cooking, slice the mirlitons in half lengthwise (if they were boiled), remove the seed, and then use a spoon to scoop out the flesh, leaving about ¼” border around the skins. Set the skins aside to be filled later and give the mirliton flesh a rough chop. Set this inside a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl to drain excess moisture.
Once the vegetables are softened and the onions a bit translucent, add the diced him and cook another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the rough chopped mirliton flesh and stir to combine. Continue cooking for about 5 more minutes. Now add the minced garlic and remaining seasoning mix. Stir to combine and cook another 1-2 minutes.
Pour 1 cup of shrimp stock over the mixture and let it come to a simmer. Continue to simmer and stir occasionally until reduced, about 5-10 minutes longer. Once reduced a bit, add the shrimp and cook 2-3 minutes longer.
Finally, remove the filling from the heat and stir in the breadcrumbs and chopped parsley. Stir until fully combined. The filling should thicken up quite a bit here as the crumbs soak in the moisture.

Use a spoon to fill the reserved mirliton shells with an overflowing amount of the filling. Place the stuffed mirliton shells in a 13x9 baking pan. Top each one with a bit of the remaining butter. Set the dish in the middle of the oven and bake, uncovered, about 30-40 minutes, until the tops are nicely browned.
Allow the shrimp and ham stuffed mirlitons to cool for at least 5-10 minutes and you can serve these hot or warm.