“Need more ideas for all those lovely green leaves in the hungry gap? This quick and simple recipe is made with chard but pretty much any leaves can be used.“, Tom.

Ingredients (serves 2 – scale as needed)

• 1 egg,
• 100g plain flour (I like to use half and half wholemeal/white),
• A generous half pint of milk,
• Large bunch of chard (or spring cabbage, sprouting broccoli, cauliflower leaves etc.),
• Seasoning to taste
• Optional: herbs/spices (e.g. cumin, turmeric, coriander powder, etc.)

Method:

1. Beat together the egg, flour and milk to make a smooth pancake batter.
2. Finely chop the leaves (the finer the better. I use a ‘mini-chopper’, possibly a blender or some sort of food processor might be just as good. Basically you want the leaves to be more or less mush!) and add to the batter.
3. Season with salt, pepper and, if you like, herbs or spices. I use a pinch or two each of cumin, turmeric and coriander powder.
4. Fry in a little oil or butter, like you would a regular pancake, flipping after a minute or so. The only tricky bit is that it’s a bit harder to get the batter to spread than if it were normal pancake batter.
5. Serve with cheese, chutney or anything else you would normally have with a savoury pancake.

Bon appétit!