Salmon with tomato and wild garlic

It’s spring and there’s wild garlic, also known as ransoms, growing in woodland, along river banks and where the bluebells grow. Different from the bulb garlic we’re all used to, it’s the leaves that you use. They’re long and deep green and, when crushed in your hand, smell of fresh garlic. It’s easy enough to find, identify (by the smell if nothing else) and pick. However, it’s worth moving that little bit away from the path before gathering; particularly if there are plenty of dog walkers about. And if you can’t pick it yourself, you’ll sometimes find it at farm shops and farmers’ markets.

Serves two

Four salmon fillets, skin on and scaled
Four ripe tomatoes
One bunch of wild garlic
50ml rapeseed or olive oil plus a little more for frying
Sea salt
Freshly-ground black pepper
One bunch of watercress
Two inner sticks of celery with leaves still on
A little fresh parsley

Before starting, check the salmon fillets for pin bones by running your hand across the flesh and removing any small bones with tweezers or pointy pliers.

Then, with the point of a sharp knife, remove the eyes from the tomatoes and then cut them into rough lumps. Place in a bowl, season with a little salt and pepper and put to one side.

Place half the wild garlic and the 50ml of oil in a blender or food processor and whizz until you’ve a pungent green dressing.

Heat a frying pan, add a little oil and place the salmon fillets in, skin side down. Season with salt and pepper and don’t touch them for at least five, possibly seven, minutes, until the skin is nice and crisp. Gently turn them over and cook for another three to four minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and keep warm.

Wash the watercress and parsley and shake dry. Tear up the remainder of the wild garlic, roughly chop the celery including their leaves and toss them together with the tomatoes and a small amount of the green dressing.

Spoon the tomato and watercress salad onto a couple of plates, place the salmon alongside and dribble the rest of the dressing over and around.