re: Need some recs for what to do with this vegetable,

They grow these things in the back country in Honduras. There will be a rack beside a house with a few plants growing up the posts and then a top sort of like lattice work, covered in the leafy vines with the fruit hanging down through the lattice toward the ground. The plants make shade and you can walk around under them and the fruits (gourds)are harvested for food.