Spread 1/4 cup sesame seeds in a pie plate. Follow recipe for Simple Pan-Seared Salmon, rubbing fillets with 2 tsp canola or vegetable oil, sprinkling with salt and ground black pepper, then pressing flesh sides of fillets in sesame seeds to coat. Continue with recipe, being careful not to break sesame crust when removing fillets from pan.

 

For heightened sesame flavor, rub the fish fillets with Asian sesame oil instead of canola or vegetable. If you pair this variation with butterflied fillets, double the quantity of sesame seeds and coat both sides of each fillet.