I’ve been away from the website, getting ready for a road trip. Before we left, I vowed to eat through our deep freeze. Top of the list was the halibut I bought this fall from a fisherman in Richmond. Each fish was tagged, weighed and the sale recorded in a notebook. Len filleted our 32 pound fish. At home, I cut the fillets across into pieces, wrapped each tightly in plastic wrap, then in plastic bags with a paper label inside. I use my parents’ straw method to suck out all the air in the bag. Friends with home vacuum sealers say they work well, but I’ve not used one.

We enjoyed the first of the fillets on the BBQ. As the days got shorter and wetter, I tried broiling with a miso or dijon glaze, but frying became our favourite, for ease and for flavour. I usually added a crushed or chopped garlic clove to the butter and oil mix in the cast-iron frying pan. My father would have lightly dusted the fillets with flour, but rinsing and then patting dry keeps them ultra low-carb.

Sustainability

Pacific halibut caught by longline off the BC coast is rated by SeaChoice.org as a “yellow” choice, meaning there are moderate concerns - not about the survival of the stock, but of by-catch, and damage to the seabottom environment.

Matsutake mushrooms

The other reportable fall bounty we enjoyed was a bag of spectacular matsutake from our friend Lesley. It’s been a few years since I’ve had matsutake, “pine mushroom”, a highly esteemed wild mushroom, especially in Japan. A similar variety grows in the Pacific northwest coastal forests where they are picked, and shipped. Modern pickers map their locations on GPS, and their locations are well-kept secrets. In the fall, buyers set up temporary shops to purchase them and ship them to buyers, including Japan where they sell for $12 to $100 per 100g (1/4 pound), retail, depending on quality.

My Aunt Mine first introduced me to matsutake shortly after I moved to Vancouver. She suggested making “matsutake gohan”, or mushroom rice, so all the rice was perfumed by their unique woodsy scent. We went mushroom hunting, but never did find matsutake. She was meticulous about identification, because some mushrooms have deadly look-alikes. When in doubt, she’d take her specimen to the local Mycological Society meeting for others’ opinions.

Low carb

Now that I don’t eat rice, I had fun finding new ways to enjoy them. In the end, like the halibut, simply sauteed in butter was best - matsutake with my morning omelettes, and fried eggs, shaved in salad, in a rich savoury chawanmushi (egg custard), and several times with the halibut in a creamy wine sauce. I deglazed the pan with white wine, and added full-fat cream cheese, a little dijon mustard, and some heavy cream.

That autumn dish, from sea and mountain forest, was our Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family.