Szechuan Barbecued Salmon
Ingredients
- 1/2 T Szechuan peppercorns
- 1 t olive oil
- 1/4 c chopped onion
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- fresh ginger (3/4" piece, peeled and chopped)
- 1/2 lemongrass stalk (white part only, chopped)
- 2 chopped basil leaves (fresh)
- 1 T Sugar (Brown)
- 2 t rice vinegar
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper (seeded)
- 225 g salmon
Method
First, prepare the szechuan peppercorns:
To toast them, heat a dry saute pan over high heat. Add the peppercorns and cook for about 1.5 minutes, until they release a fragrance. Remove from the heat and grind in a spice grinder or electric coffee grinder.
To prepare the szechuan sauce:
In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute, stirring, for 5 minutes, until caramelized. Allow to cool. To finish the sauce, in a food processor, combine the onion-garlic mixture, ginger, lemongrass, basil, sugar, vinegar, jalapeno, and ground peppercorns and puree until well blended.
To prepare the salmon:
Preheat the broiler.
Place the salmon on the grill rack and grill, turning once, for 5 minutes on each side for rare. Transfer to a broiler pan. Spread the Szechuan sauce evenly over 1 side of each fillet. Slip under the broiler for 2 minutes to caramelize the topping. Serve at once.
Notes
SJ Note 4 Sept 2010: I was so looking forward to this. Sadly, neither of us cared for the taste at all. It also didn't puree very well - if anyone else tries this, I highly urge you to add some sort of liquid to help blend the topping, for a better consistency. For our purposes, it was good that the salmon didn't take on much of the flavor of the topping, but if you like the topping, I'd suggest marinating the salmon with the same flavors for awhile before cooking.