Toad-in-the-Hole

Ok, ok, so this is not really 17th century, but this dish is a traditional English food. And it is so yummy and fattening and horribly perfect for winter. These photos are from 2008, but it’s the only time I’ve photographed the process (well, bits of it). I don’t make it anymore as I have stopped eating pork, and, well, I want to get back to the weight I was in these photos BEFORE all the English cooking.

*sighs*

OK, first things first. To make a good Toad-in-the-hole for four people (or two really hungry people), you’ll need the following ingredients:

• 4 large, fresh eggs, measured in a jug, and beaten.
• 200 ml/2/3 cup milk
• 200 ml/ 2/3 cup plain/all purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil or butter (or lard if you are really true to the recipe)
• 6 good-quality beef or pork sausages, partially fried/grilled

Heat your oven to 425 F/220 C whilst you’re grilling or frying your sausages (until they are browned all over). Mix your salt and flour in a bowl. Take your beaten eggs and half of your milk and gradually mix them into a well in your flour mix. Beat it until it’s smooth and lovely, pour in the rest of your milk, and beat more, again until it’s smooth and creamy.

Now, get your ovenproof dish and put in your fat of choice and pop it in the oven until it gets hot, not BE CAREFUL when taking it out of the oven (once you can tell it’s hot). I burned myself when a drop of fat popped out and onto my arm, so again, be careful (obviously). Now add the browned sausages into the pan of hot fat and then you will pour over the flour mix.

Pop it back into the oven and keep it on the same temperature for approximately 40-44 minutes (it depends on your oven, just make sure the batter has risen and it’s all browned).

Whilst your Toad-in-the-Hole is cooking, you can steam some veggies and make some gravy to go on top of it all.

And we’re ready to eat! Look how brown it is – everything is nicely cooked. Now, British food has a tendency to be quite bland, so you can always combat this by the addition of herbs and even English hot mustard can be used. My gravy is usually onion gravy with a lot of herbs…and garlic.

And take my advice, drink a little bit of red wine with this to dilute some of the fat…and try to do some exercise the next day! haha!