Sesame Crusted Salmon with Crunch Salad

This is one of my favourite ways to cook fish. It works especially well with tuna (as you can see in sesame crusted tuna with soba noodles), ocean trout and salmon. I think it looks nicer if you use a combination of white and black sesame seeds, but all I had tonight was black. I have been making this salmon for years, but I got the idea for this salad from my friend Shelley, who is mummyknows.com.au who adapted it from a James Duigan recipe. I have adapted it again to suit my tastes and ingredients on hand.  The salad is tangy and crunchy and cuts through the oiliness of the salmon magnificently. This is clean, lean and light food, but if you cook the salmon indoors it can become a bit smoky so if it is not too cold for you, use the griddle section of the bbq – just have your silver foil ready, and don’t overcook it.

 

2 fillets of salmon or ocean trout

1 tspn chilli flakes

¼  tspn salt flakes

3 tbspn sesame seeds (black, white or mixed)

drizzle of olive oil

salad

200g green beans, trimmed and steamed

200g butter beans, trimmed and steamed

1 baby fennel, thinly sliced

4 radishes, thinly sliced

2 carrots, julienned

1 sheet of nori cut into strips (optional)

dressing

2 tbspn olive oil

2 tbspn brown rice vinegar

2 tbspn soy sauce

2 tbspn orange juice

juice of ½ a lime

½ tspn brown sugar

Scatter chilli, salt and sesame on a plate. Spray salmon with olive oil. Press salmon into sesame mixture until the flesh side is covered. Heat a non stick fry pan or the bbq to high. Sear salmon skin side down for 3 mins. Turn to sesame side and sear for another 3 minutes. Remove from pan and wrap tightly in silver foil to rest for 10 minutes.

Combine salad ingredients on a plate. Combine ingredients for dressing and whisk. Pour dressing over salad reserving 1 tbspn. Place salmon on salad and drizzle over remaining dressing.