It's relief when a lonely bag of watercress knocking about the fridge can go to good use. Not to mention the fact that these leaves are high in iron and vitamin C. This recipe - thought up by Kirsty, my colleague at the time - was originally intended for getting children to eat more greens at lunch and I'm very happy to sneak more green into my own diet if it's this more-ish.

On digging it out, possibilities for these effortless patties came to mind: stuff between two slices of fresh wholewheat bread along with an assortment of leaves and a smear of top-class mayonnaise (what I did as soon as they came out the pan), refrigerate for snacks on demand or turn into chicken burgers.

Chicken And Watercress Patties

Ingredients
4 free-range chicken breast fillets
1 packet watercress (40g)
50g fresh white bread (no crusts)
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Sunflower oil for frying

Method

1) Add the watercress to a food processor and blitz until chopped.

2) Add the bread and blitz and until it resembles crumbs

3) Add the chicken breast fillets, salt and pepper and pulse and then blitz until the mixture comes together in one sticky mass. Form into six patties.

4) Heat a tablespoon of sunflower oil in a frying pan and cook over medium-high heat for 2-3minutes a side.