There's a morning in late May when you see them at the market for the first time. Nye kartofler. Small, pale, dusted with the sandy soil of Samsø or southern Sjælland, their skins so thin they rub off under your thumb. You buy more than you need. You always do. And then you go home and think about what to serve beside them.

Bagt laks med dildsauce is that dish. A whole side of salmon, seasoned simply, baked in a pool of butter and dry white wine at a gentle heat until the flesh just turns opaque and parts into broad, soft flakes. While it rests, you build the sauce from the pan juices: butter, flour, cream, and a generous handful of fresh dill stirred through at the end so the colour stays bright and the flavour stays green. The nye kartofler sit alongside, rolled in butter and scattered with more dill, because in Denmark in late spring, dill goes on everything and it should.

The whole dish depends on one principle: gentle heat. High heat tightens the proteins in the salmon and squeezes the moisture out, leaving you with something dry and chalky. You want the opposite. Flesh that yields under your finger, that holds together but barely, that tastes of butter and wine and the sea. I'll tell you exactly what to look for and when to pull it from the oven. The dildsauce comes together in minutes. The potatoes need nothing more than boiling water and good butter. This is a dinner you can put on the table for guests and feel proud of, and it asks very little of you in return. The season decides, and right now the season is saying laks and dill and the first potatoes of the year.