Toad in the hole

When it's been a cold, wet, windy typically British winter day and evening and all you want is some comfort food to warm your insides up, toad in the hole is definitely one of my all time favourites to  make.

It's  so simple, but so so delicious, and an added bonus is that it all cooks in one pan  which means less to wash up - win win

I served it with my red onion gravy and some buttery mash- and it definitely hot the spot.

To serve 4 people you will need :
8 sausages ( i used shezan halal lamb ones )
30g butter
50ml oil
125g plain flour
A good pinch of salt and pepper
2 large eggs
80ml milk
40 ml cold water

• Start by preheating your oven to 210c ( fan)

• Put  the flour, salt and pepper into a bowl, make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into the well

• Whisk the eggs with the flour to form a thick batter. Slowly add in the milk & continue to whisk and you should have a smooth pourable batter. Place in the fridge to rest

• Place the sausages along with the butter and oil into a roasting dish - mine was about 25x30cm , cook for about 15 minutes till just cooked.

• Take the batter out of the fridge, pour in the cold water, and whisk together.

• Remove the sausages from the oven & pour in all the batter quickly but carefully

• Place back in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the yorkshire pudding is crisp and golden, and serve

Red onion gravy

Home made gravy ... not as much as a faff as some might think, I made this due to not having any gravy granules at home, as I knew there was no way we could have toad in the hole for dinner and no gravy- that would have been a cardinal sin

It was definitely one of those 'chuck it in and lets see' moments, but when the husband and both kids declared ' right no more bisto for us' I knew it was worth the last minute throw together



For my red onion gravy you will need

1 large red onion sliced
A knob of butter
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Good pinch black pepper
1 vegetable stock cube
1/4 tsp onion salt
1/4 tsp garlic granules
2 level tbsp plain flour
A tbsp Worcester /brown sauce
400ml water

• In a heavy based pan, put your onions in along with the oil and saute them until they are soft and begining to caramelise
• Add in the butter, pepper, onion salt, garlic granules and cook through for a couple of minutes 
• Crumble in the stock cube, and sprinkle in the flour, stir and cook together for another couple of minutes - the flour will clump the onions together- this is fine as it will become smooth as you add in the liquid.
• Slowly add in the flour a little at a time, whisking as you go, keep whisking till all the flour has incorporated into the liquid and there are no lumps.
• Bring the gravy to boiling point, then lower the heat and leave to simmer until the gravy is at your preffered thickness. At this point you can blend the gravy for a smooth gravy or leave the onions in as they are.
• Taste the gravy at this point, adjust if need be and serve.. I served it with my Toad in the hole for our sunday dinner and it went down a treat