Cook with spring ingredients

Makes 6-8 cakes

250g cod (large fillet)

3 or 4 peppercorns

1 bay leaf

1 lemon

1 small onion or white end of leek, chopped

Olive oil

Clove of garlic, chopped

1 stalk of celery, diced

1 tbsp mayonnaise

Scant tbsp mustard

1 egg

Few dashes of hot sauce

1 bunch of parsley, chopped 200g crushed cream crackers or dried breadcrumbs

Salad greens

Olive oil for dressing

1. Poach cod in water with three or four peppercorns, a bay leaf, and a slice of lemon. Pull the fish from its bath when it has just begun to whiten all the way through. Cool.

2. Sauté the onion or leek (or both) in olive oil with the garlic and celery. Allow it to cool. Mix it together with a generous spoonful of mayo, a smaller one of mustard, an egg, a few dashes of hot sauce, salt and freshly ground black pepper, and a handful of parsley. Add to the crushed cream crackers. Add the sautéed vegetables and stir to combine. You want the mixture to be pretty loose – add an extra egg if needed to bring it together.

3. Flake the cod into the binding sauce carefully, keeping the pieces as whole as you can, then gather them into small balls and form them into little patties. Let these set in the refrigerator for 20 mins.

4. Fry the patties in 5cm of hot oil.

5. Serve with the greens, dressed in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Tip: a smear of mayo on the patties before frying will give a crisp crust. From ‘New York Times Cooking: No-recipe Recipes’ by Sam Sifton (£22.50, Ebury Press). Photographs: David Malosh and Simon Andrews