After a lovely day in the sun in hyde park, we got home with two hungry children and only sausages in the fridge ... Rich gave the children a bath while I cooked.
I popped upstairs to ask them if they were ready for toad in the hole ... Thea replied “is that a book or is it on the television” ... I thought I must have cooked her this British classic before ... obviously not ... so I was thrilled she loved it as much as I do ...
TOAD IN THE HOLE - Serves 4
Ingredients
150g Plain flour, 300ml Whole milk, 2 Large eggs, 1 Teaspoon of salt, 8 Good quality Sausages, Olive oil, 1 Large onion, 1 Clove of garlic, Gravy granules
- Start by making the batter. Mix the flour, milk, eggs and salt together and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Turn the oven to 200
- Place the sausages and a good slug of olive oil in a roasting dish that is 33cm x 22cm (or as near in size as possible) and put in the oven for 10 ten minutes
- After ten minutes turn the sauages over and carefully add the batter to the sausages. Return the pan to the middle of the oven for another 20-25 minutes till the batter is golden and has puffed up
- While the toad in the hole is cooking slice the onion and place in a frying pan with some olive oil. On a low heat cook the onion for 15-20 minutes until soft. Once soft grate the garlic into the onions and cook for another minute
- Make up the gravy according to the insturctions and add the onion mixture to the gravy
- Remove the toad in the hole from the oven, place on a plate and cover with gravy ... I love this dish with peas
Cooking notes
The secret to well risen yorkshire pudding is to have very hot oil and keep the door closed while cooking. Be aware that the hot oil may spit when you add the batter to the roasting dish.
I do not as a rule use gravy granuals ... I make an exception here as I feel that making onion gravy from scratch makes this dish quite time consuming ... If you are really short of time cut out the onions ... just make up the gravy.
You leave the batter to rest to allow the gluten in the flour to relax, this makes the batter tender. If you don’t allow the batter to relax the yorkshire pudding will be slightly tough and rubbery.
Adapting
Flavoured sausages are great with this dish so experiment with any you enjoy. If you want to add a bit of a kick to the batter add a tablespoon of whole grain mustard
This has just reminded me that there are M&S Premium sausages ( from a double pack ! ) in the freezer . Dinner tomorrow sorted - thanks !
Posted by: Hilary | 10/16/2011 at 12:51 PM