Toad in the Hole

Did you see that I had ‘Toad in the Hole’ on my menuplan for this week? A dish I’ve certainly heard of – it’s a British classic – but had never actually tried making or eating before… Have I been missing out? The ‘toads’ in question are sausages and the ‘hole’ is a puffy batter. Yep, I can tell that I’ve already got your mouths watering! British cuisine does that for you… 😉

Anyway, I’m your guinea pig and, as Lesley and Emma have been mentioning it on twitter.com, I thought it was time to put it to The Test.

Put a couple of tablespoons of oil in a metal baking tray and place the tray in a hot oven (225c or 450f) for about 10 minutes. You need to get it sizzling hot.

Add about 8 sausages to the pan (we used big, fat sausages but next time I’ll try it with frankfurter size ones) and coat them with the oil and cook for another couple of minutes while you whip up the batter.

It’s a basic pancake batter. 4oz or 100g of flour, 2 eggs, half a pint or 1 cup of milk, salt n’ pepper. Whip it all up together. Or let DS10 whip it all up together 🙂 Pour around the sausages (not on top) and quickly put the whole thing back in the oven for another 20 minutes or so until it’s puffy and golden brown.

We had our Toad in the Hole with the traditional accompaniement of onion gravy. And mashed potatoes (from a packet). And peas. Comfort food! Next time I’ll leave out the mashed potatoes and have it with spinach salad.

The (whole) family’s reaction? ‘Yum! When can we make that again?’ So expect to see it on a menuplan near you soon…

Have a super Saturday! 🙂