salmon fishcakes with fresh pea shoots and baby new potatoes

Yesterday afternoon, we took a drive out to Abingdon for a friend's 30th birthday party. "Lovely spread," noted my husband in his broadest Yorkshire accent. I have to admit, he was right. My personal highlights: borlotti bean, tomato and avocado salad; fresh smoked salmon; a cheese board to die for; and fresh French bread.

By the time we arrived home, even I couldn't eat a morsel more. Only problem? I had two lovely fillets of salmon sitting in the fridge that I had defrosted the day before. I don't like wasting food, so I had no choice but to cook them despite my stuffed state.

Instead of grilling them (I figured I could always let them cool and serve them in a salad the following day), I decided to make fish cakes. Simply cut the salmon into small cubes, getting rid of the skin, and combine with breadcrumbs (use a handblender and 1/2 a piece of bread), one egg, salt, pepper and fresh parsley. Form into little balls: 300 g of salmon produced five neat little cakes.

When I make salmon burgers, I often grill them, but these were too small to hold up, so I pan-fried them, which I don't normally like to do, since it calls for a lot of oil. But I decided to start with small amounts, and it turned out one teaspoon of olive oil was plenty to do the job.

For lunch today, I served the salmon fishcakes, cooled and refrigerated overnight, with a couple handfuls of pea shoots (right in season), steamed baby new potatoes, and a dollop of light mayonnaise. Fresh, light and cool - just right for a weekend lunch.

Calories: 478 (1/3 of the salmon fishcakes, 150 g baby new potatoes, 25 g pea shoots, 1 tbsp light mayonnaise). Should you decide to split the fishcakes 50-50, add another 96 calories to the total, which may be a bit much if you are trying to watch your calories. After all, dinner is only a few hours away...