I normally use the same small backpack for all my shopping and for carrying things too and from my allotment. A couple of weeks ago I opened up the bag and to my horror found a litre of unopened milk that had been sat in the bag for somewhere between 4 days and a week! I picked up the semi-solid, yoghurty liquid and put it in the fridge cursing myself for being so wasteful. Later that day I returned home with some eggs and clumsily dropped a full box of them on the floor! As I poured the three broken eggs into a jug I thought to myself that making a batter with the eggs and sour milk would be the best course of action rather than waste all of that food.

I’m sure every now and then all of us have these clumsy days where food could easily be wasted. However, a batter made with sour milk can be made into pancakes, Yorkshire puddings or toad-in-the-hole (meat or veggie) or it can be used to bake soda-bread, biscuits, cookies or even cakes. The recipes below are just some of the ways I decided to use the sour milk but don’t worry if you are a little less forgetful than I am as fresh milk will work just as well in these recipes. To be extra energy efficient you can make both the bread and the toad in the hole at the same time as they both are cooked at the same temperature for around the same time.

Basic Batter Mix – Makes around 9 pancakes or a toad-in-the hole to feed 4-6.

500ml of sour milk
3 eggs
250g of Flour
Seasoning (I used nutmeg and black-pepper, can use herbs such as tarragon or parsley or just a pinch of salt)

Method –

Sieve the flour into a bowl
Add the eggs, milk and seasoning
Using an electric or hand whisk mix until there are no lumps in the batter
Leave to stand for half and hour or so in the fridge

Pancakes –

Use the basic batter mix and cook in a hot frying pan with a little oil – Rapeseed/vegetable oil is the around the cheapest and most effective.

Stuffed pancakes served with seasonal vegetables can make a reasonably balanced main meal for very little money and below are just some ideas of what to fill your pancakes with

Savoury

Cheese and sweet corn (use frozen corn as you can just use as little or much as you need)
Wild garlic leaves and kidney beans
Spinach and chickpea
Home-grown tomatoes and basil
Foraged mushrooms and nutmeg
Nettle and ricotta

Sweet

Apple and cinnamon
Chocolate spread and banana
Lemon and sugar

Vegetarian toad in the hole

Ingredients

Batter mix
Herbs (Rosemary, Thyme)
Black Pepper
Approx 1lb/450g of any mix of the following vegetables –
Squash/Pumpkin
Courgette
Onions
Carrots
Parsnips
Sweet corn
Beans (not baked beans)

Method

If using harder vegetables i.e. Carrots, Parsnips, Squash, Onion etc then arrange in a roasting tin and roast for around 10-20 minutes on Gas mark 7/220 ⁰C/425 ⁰F in a little oil until the vegetables start to soften
Add any other softer vegetables your using to the roasting tin
Pour the batter mix over the vegetables, add the chopped herbs and a few twists of black pepper

Roast for 30-40 minutes until the batter has risen and has turned a golden brown colour

Herby Rye Soda Bread – Yeah!

Ingredients