3 Thrifty Lockdown Recipes From Singletrack Towers
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3 Thrifty Lockdown Recipes From Singletrack Towers

April 19, 2020

However you’re getting your shopping at the moment, it seems quite likely that you’re faced with a few challenges due to not just being able to nip out for a few missing ingredients. Online shopping carries with it the perils of unusual substitutions, and with delivery slots few and far between you might find that you’ve a lot of things that aren’t going to last the whole two weeks before the next delivery.

Here at Singletrack Towers, we’re faced with all the same challenges – we are mere mortals after all. And if there’s one new and interesting facet to come out of our daily group video meetings it’s our fascination with what each of us is having for breakfast or lunch when options are limited. So here are some of our thrifty recipes that use up that stale bread, the sad veg, or the souring milk. And no banana bread in sight.

Below we’ve got you covered with Hannah’s sticky gingerbread, Amanda’s Anything Goes’ Ribollita and for breakfast fans, Mark’s fluffy Lockdown Pancakes. Just make sure you are logged in to see them.

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Hannah’s Sticky Gingerbread

A bit of a sunken one!

This is a really simple recipe, there’s no complicated folding or combining – you just stick everything in a bowl and mix it up. A stand mixer is ideal for this, but if you’ve got a splash cover I recommend using it – especially if you let your kids take control. The recipe uses up sour milk – I don’t mean stuff that’s half way to cheese. When it reaches that stage of not being right when you put it in tea, that’ll do fine. You could use fresh milk too – but then it’s not so thrifty.

Ingredients

  • 180g Plain Flour
  • 120g Sugar
  • 190g Butter (softened – microwave it a little of you need to)
  • 180g Treacle (molasses sugar also works)
  • 120ml Sour Milk
  • 1 Egg
  • 1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
  • 2tsp Ground Ginger
This is the apple version and is a bit underdone. Should have had longer in a low oven.

Put everything in a bowl together and mix it until combined. It will be a runny mixture, like a thick batter. Ideally what you want is a silicone loaf tin, as the cake won’t stick to it. If you’re using a silicone tin, be sure to put it on a baking tray before you tip the mixture in or you will make a terrible mess and you risk burning yourself horribly. If you’re using a normal cake tin, double line it with greaseproof paper on all sides, making sure the cake will be wrapped in it when you turn it out, rather than the mixture oozing between joins.

Bake at 180C for 15 minutes, then take a look. It will probably be quite cooked looking on the outside, but molten in the middle. If the cooked bit looks OK, turn the oven down to 150C. If it looks close to burning, turn it down to 140C. Keep checking it until you can press gently on the top and it doesn’t wobble. If you stick a skewer in it, it should come out clean, or with sticky cake on it, but not raw mix.

Try not to burn the edges

Take the cake out the oven and leave it in the tin to cool. Once cool, run a knife around the edge before attempting to turn it out.

Variations

I have successfully made vegan versions before, using soya or almond milk to replace normal milk, and oil to replace the butter. Sometimes I’ve replaced the egg with a small (or half) over ripe banana, sometimes I haven’t bothered – I just mix the ingredients up until they approximate the same consistency as the original recipe. It’s not so foolproof though and can take a long while in a low oven to cook.

A silicone tin gives you the best chance of turning it out neatly.

When the apples in the fruit bowl have gone sad, I’ve whizzed one in a blender and added it and a couple of handfuls of oats into the original recipe mix, for a healthier-ish almost parkin like cake. That’s what the pictures here show – and it’s not quite so black as it should be, since I ran out of treacle.

Amanda’s ‘Anything Goes’ Ribollita

ribollita

There’s a really good recipe for this scribbled on a piece of paper in my cupboard, but the beauty of it is that you can substitute most of the ingredients and it’s usually still edible. Mine tends to always have a courgette thrown in, and I add olives if I’ve got a jar open. You can also skip some of the stages if you’re in a hurry, like putting the tomatoes in in two parts.

You will need…

  • 1 onion
  • 3 carrots
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 8 cloves garlic (it’s OK, we’re in lockdown. Nobody can smell you)
  • 2 fistfuls of kale or spinach
  • 1 28oz can peeled tomatoes
  • 1 14oz can cannelloni beans (or whatever beans you have – chickpeas work great)
  • 1/3rd cup extra virgin olive oil (plus some for cooking)
  • 1/2 loaf stale/crusty bread
  • Salt
  • Bonus ingredients – red pepper flakes, smoked paprika

Amanda’s method

  1. Preheat oven to 200° and get yourself a big ovenproof pot ready. Finely chop your onion and transfer to a medium bowl.
  2. Wash, peel, and trim and dice 3 medium carrots. Add to bowl with onion.
  3. Chop 2 celery stalks into ½” pieces. Add to bowl.
  4. Smash and peel 8 garlic cloves with the back of your knife. Add to bowl.
  5. Tear your kale/spinach leaves into 2″ pieces and set aside.
  6. Place canned tomatoes and their juices in a strainer inside a medium bowl to collect the juice. Squeeze tomatoes and crush them with your hands while leaving them submerged in their liquid so they don’t squirt – speaking from experience, they really will want to squirt.
  7. Tear ½ loaf crusty bread into 1½” pieces.
  8. Heat ⅓ cup oil in your big oven proof pot. Add bowl of mirepoix, salt to taste and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened but not browned, about 8–10 minutes.
  9. Add tomatoes (but not juices) and cook for about 10 minutes.
  10. Drain and rinse your canned cannellini beans/chickpeas/whatever and add to pot with tomato juices and 4 cups water. At this point if you want to add chili flakes, do so. Bring to a simmer.
  11. Add kale/spinach gradually, stirring and allowing it to wilt in between so you can get it all in there.
  12. Add about a third of the bread and cook for about 5 minutes.
  13. Remove from heat and arrange the remaining bread on top to create a lid of bread. Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle salt on if you’re as unhealthy as me.
  14. Put the pot in the centre of your oven and bake for around 10-15 minutes.

Mark’s Fluffy Lockdown Pancakes

Pancakes are about as thrifty as you can get when it comes to cheap food. You basically just need an egg, flour and milk. But to get the really fluffy, American style pancakes that you can drizzle with syrup or even eggs and bacon (or all 3!) then the key is in the method. This is a recipe for the fluffiest pancakes and as you’ll see (Mark made a video) the key to success is in the way you put those cheap ingredients together. If you are too heavy handed, you’ll be left with flat rubbery discs. Be gentle and don’t rush and you’ll be in pancake heaven in under 10 minutes.

Mmmmm pancakes! American style

What you need

  • 100ml Milk
  • 80g Self raising flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • Vanilla extract
  • Cinnamon powder
  • Butter

Equipment

  • Frying pan
  • 2 large bowls
  • Hand mixer
  • Spatula
  • Tablespoon for folding

Got any favourite recipes of your own you have been mastering during lockdown? Tell us all below.

Author Profile Picture
Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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