Szechuan pepper encrusted salmon

I would like to introduce to you a tongue numbing recipe that is so delicious, the pain is all worth it. This was a dinner I made for myself last week when I raked my brain on what to do with my last piece of frozen salmon. Nothing fancy or anything, just food for the soul to satiate a hungry tummy!

All I did after defrosting the salmon was pat it dry with a paper towel before sprinkling all the delicious tasty bits and pan frying it for 3-4 minutes on each side.

This recipe would work wonderfully if your salmon is not de-skinned. But mine was skinned so we will have to do with what we've got.

Here's what I used for my Szechuan pepper crust (besides the obvious!):
1/2 teaspoon Szechuan peppers, crush roughly with the back of your pan
1/4 teaspoon koshered salt (or any salt will do)
a bit of lemon zest (eyeball it, about 3-4 grates worth)
a few drops of lemon juice
a few dash of pepper

Sprinkle salt, pepper on the (de-)skinned side of the fillet. Add your crushed szechuan pepper lemon zest and juice. Just pat it with your right hand (you can use your left :P) to get all the flavors into the fish and let it sit on the counter for about 5-10 minutes.

Heat non-stick pan with some olive oil (or any oil you might be using) on medium high heat. When pan is hot enough you can add the fillet, crust down, and don't touch it! I am serious about touching your food when it's cooking. You want it to be nicely browned and not pathetically pale.

Let me tell you of a story, I actually had (4 years or so ago) a flatmate who kept touching her meat in a lukewarm pan. It was disgusting and quite uninspiring just watching her cook and seeing the end result of the beautiful lamb chop turned into something that looked boiled meat made me want to scream at her (I didn't). Just imagine a piece of lamb chop being prodded with a stick every 3 seconds while the pan is still heating up. It was a blasphemous act of disrespect to that piece of lamb chop, if you ask me! I didn't want to cut right in and teach her a thing or two on how to treat her lamb chops right because it would quite rude, but i was close to. *takes a deep breathe*

Okay, back to cooking. Let the fillet cook for 4 minutes on the skin side. Flip it over after 4 minutes and continue cooking for another 3 minutes.

Serve it with some vegetables and potatoes and you have a tasty, tongue numbing and healthy western+asian feast. I had butter maple carrots, stirfried lettuce and baked buttermilk potatoes with Szechuan encrusted salmon. Yum yum :)

You can definitely serve this up to dinner guests, you just got to present it better to impress unlike me as I didn't have to impress myself. ;)