Barnaby has the uncanny ability to look into the fridge and be able to whip up some fabulous gourmet meal. I, on the other hand, will take a look and immediately say, “We have nothing, nothing at all. We need to go to the store.”

Last night was one such night. I saw nothing and Barnaby saw a cornucopia of delectables. So he took over (hmm, maybe I should just start feigning culinary ineptness more often!). What he grabbed from the depths of our pantry and cold storage was this:

Freezer: clams in an abundance of their juice, a fillet of King salmon and a few halibut cheeks.
Fridge: a bit of fennel, mayonnaise
Pantry: an onion, a carton of good quality tomato sauce, saffron threads, white wine, chili powder, the remainder of a loaf of pugliese, truffle oil…I’m sure I’m missing some other minor ingredients, but you get the gist.

The result of his genius was a beautiful and ever so scrumptious non-traditional bouillabaisse. We named it Pacific Northwest Bouillabaisse due to two of its key ingredients: halibut cheeks and King salmon. He didn’t stop there, oh no, he served it with toast drizzled with a bit of truffle oil and a rouille on the side (you want to move in with us, don’t you?).

It was the best darn scavenged meal I think I’ve ever had.

For further eating pleasure:

Here’s a great classic bouillabaisse recipe from Simply Recipes.
Jacques Pépin’s Chicken Bouillabaisse from Food and Wine.

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“Pssst! Hey, man, you got any of the good stuff? I ask sotto voce. No, I am not looking to buy controlled substances on a seedy street corner. The good stuff I’m looking for are fresh halibut cheeks. I guess you could say it is an addiction of sorts. This delicacy is quite hard to find, so when halibut is in peak season I race to the fish market hoping to score.

Halibut cheeks are so sweet and tender they resemble lobster; thin disks with a flaky texture and deliciously rich. Because of its wonderful natural flavor, halibut cheeks require little in the way of preparation. In fact, just a bit of salt, pepper and a squeeze of and some lemon zest does just the trick.

If you would like a more robust preparation it would be worth your while to check out Chef’s Blog by Jeremy McLachlan, Executive Chef of the famous Salty’s on Alki Beach in Seattle, Washington. Here he shares his oh-my-holy-halibut-cheeks-that-sounds-delicious recipe for Pan-Seared Halibut Cheeks Oscar with Celeriac mashed Potatoes, Asparagus, Dungeness Crab and Sauce Béarnaisse.

Also check out Halibut Cheeks with Pomegranate Sauce from The Omnivore’s Solution

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