Fillet of salmon or trout with spring vegetables and a cream sauce (serves four) by Simon King, chef proprietor at restaurant 1861, near Abergavenny.

SPRING will soon be here; the days are getting longer, and the first delicate green leaves are starting to unfurl on the hawthorn.

Although our need for comfort food is not yet over – March can be a chilly and blustery month – we can start thinking about lighter meals.

I love fish, not only is it good for you, it’s immensely versatile and can be cooked in a myriad different ways.Try roasting it in the oven, making a chowder, paella, kedgeree, or fish pie or fishcakes.

With pies, for instance, you can eke out the fish as the bulk is provided by the potato, similarly with a kedgeree, the amount of fish used is relatively small compared to the rice, so it won’t hit the pocket too hard.

Be careful not to overcook fish as this can dry it out and ruin the flavour and texture. Oily fish like salmon is slightly more forgiving than a fillet of white fish, but still, less is generally more when it comes to cooking it.

The salmon (or trout) used in the recipe is steeped in a lovely sauce and is teamed with the fresh, bright flavours of peas, beans and mint – it’s the perfect combo, rich enough, thanks to the luscious double cream, to provide comfort, but light enough in touch to bring a spring to our step.

Ingredients

4 x 150g portions of salmon or trout

500g cooked miniature new potatoes

100g chard leaves washed and de-stalked, or spinach if you prefer

100g peas ( blanched)

100g broad beans ( blanched and peeled)

Small bunch of mint

250mls double cream

100mls white wine

100mls fish stock

25g butter

Method

Place the fish stock and wine into a pan large enough to take the four pieces of fish. Bring to the boil, add the fish and poach gently for about four to five minutes or until cooked. Remove the fish and season, place somewhere to keep warm.

Boil the poaching juices and reduce by half, add the cream re-boil and simmer gently for a couple of minutes, season to taste and strain through a sieve. Melt the butter in a pan and wilt the chard leaves quickly over a high heat, meanwhile adding the peas, beans and potatoes to the sauce to heat, stir in the chopped mint at the last minute.

Place the greens in the centre of the plate, spoon the sauce with the other vegetables around it, and finish by placing the fish on top.