Honoring Autumn: Food as Stewardship

By Emilia Flor

As the light shifts and the air turns crisp, we step into Autumn with open hands and full hearts – the season of harvest, of orchards heavy with fruit, waters rich with salmon, and farms giving up their bounty before the ground rests. This Autumn, we return to values …

Regenerative agriculture. Farmers and ranchers who work the land. Fishermen who still read the tides. Farm-to-table, local food, farmland worth preserving, communities worth strengthening – conscious consumption, whole food systems.

Every dollar we spend reflects our values. The wonder question is: what kind of food system am I choosing to participate in? The food on the table represents hundreds of quiet choices about land, water, labor, animals, farmers, fishermen, sustainability and the future. Food becomes an expression of values. That choice starts long before it reaches the table.

Before Sunrise

Morning coffee at 4:45 a.m., South Puget Sound. Point Defiance is still dark, the water black and flat. We’re out in Marine Area 11, running the boat slow along the tide line, watching for foam and drop-offs – the places where baitfish stack up and salmon come to feed.

The cold sits on everything until the sun clears the Cascades and the water turns pink, then gold. Then a rod tip slams down – a 12-pound Coho – and it’s all excitement: laughter, somebody yelling for the net, the fish thrashing boat-side, and then it’s finally in, and everybody’s yipping and grinning at once.

That’s the work behind every plate – hands on the water, hands in the soil, hours before most of us are even awake. Choosing what’s local and honest puts that same stewardship into practice, one meal at a time.

Grilled Puget Sound Coho Salmon with Blackberry-Peach Salsa

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 24 oz wild-caught Coho salmon fillet
• 2 tbsp avocado oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 cup fresh blackberries, chopped
• 1 ripe peach, diced small
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ⅓ cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped
• 1 lb green beans, trimmed
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Mix blackberries, peach, shallot, basil, jalapeño, olive oil, and half the lemon. Set aside.
2. Pat salmon dry, rub with avocado oil, season with salt and pepper. Rest 10 minutes.
3. Grill skin-side down, medium-high, lid closed, 8-10 minutes per side until opaque.
4. Sauté green beans and garlic in avocado oil until charred in spots.
5. Squeeze remaining lemon over salmon. Plate over green beans, top with salsa and hazelnuts.

Roasted Delicata Squash with Chanterelles, Apple, and Sage

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1½ lb delicata squash, sliced into half-moons
• 2 tbsp avocado oil, divided
• ¾ tsp sea salt, divided
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 8 oz chanterelle mushrooms, torn into pieces (cremini mushrooms work as a substitute)
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 crisp apple (Honeycrisp or Gala), thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
• A few fresh sage leaves, sliced

Directions

1. Roast squash at 425°F with 1 tbsp oil, half the salt, and pepper until caramelized, about 25 minutes.
2. Sear chanterelles in remaining oil, undisturbed, until golden.
3. Add ghee, shallot, and thyme; cook until shallot softens.
4. Add apple, cook 2 minutes. Deglaze with vinegar, season with remaining salt.
5. Fold in roasted squash. Top with walnuts and sage.

Wipe chanterelles clean rather than rinsing, or they won’t brown.

This Autumn, may we eat with gratitude, live in rhythm with the land and water around us, and remember that every meal grown and harvested this close to home is a small act of stewardship for the earth and for each other.