Toad in the Hole: Because sometimes what you ate at school CAN taste good.
Big blokey sausages, rosemary, red onion and batter – pumped up, big, beefy (well, porky actually), sitting all tough and butch in a cast iron pan waiting to be forked up. Almost too butch to chew, but…you’re going to because it’s good.
All the good things you remember about Toad in the Hole and, hopefully, none of the bad. Meaty, tasty sausage, light and yummy batter, savoury, slightly acidic red onion and fragrant, piney rosemary. Make sure you use good quality sausages. Serve with a gravy or even just plain with green beans tossed in raw garlic and butter and/or some other none starchy vegetable. It is important to use a metal dish or cast iron oven proof pan to cook this in. It won’t work in a pottery one. You need that container to be red hot when you pour the batter in so that when the batter is poured in it surges up, rebelling against the hot metal it has so rudely been dropped on to, and rises into light, bubbly batter.
Big blokey sausages, rosemary, red onion and batter – pumped up, big, beefy (well, porky actually), sitting all tough and butch in a cast iron pan waiting to be forked up. Almost too butch to chew, but…you’re going to because it’s good.
All the good things you remember about Toad in the Hole and, hopefully, none of the bad. Meaty, tasty sausage, light and yummy batter, savoury, slightly acidic red onion and fragrant, piney rosemary. Make sure you use good quality sausages. Serve with a gravy or even just plain with green beans tossed in raw garlic and butter and/or some other none starchy vegetable. It is important to use a metal dish or cast iron oven proof pan to cook this in. It won’t work in a pottery one. You need that container to be red hot when you pour the batter in so that when the batter is poured in it surges up, rebelling against the hot metal it has so rudely been dropped on to, and rises into light, bubbly batter.
Recipe
Ingredients (Serves 2 big portions):
6 big, good quality pork sausages
1 red onion, sliced
1 stalk rosemary, leaves removed and leaves chopped
150ml milk
150g plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
Pan: a deep sided cast iron pan/dish or a metal, high sided baking tray
Method:
1. Heat the oven to 220 Celsius. Fry the sausages in a good glug of oil until browned all over. Remove from the pan and set to one side.
2. Fry the red onion until softened and caramelising, about 6 minutes.
3. Add the sausages to the onions, chuck in the rosemary and place in the oven. Add a good glug of oil to the pan so that it covers the bottom of the pan (about….0.5 cm). Leave to heat up.
4. In a bowl add the milk to the eggs and whisk. Gradually sieve in the flour and whisk until very smooth. It should be fairly thin but still a coating consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
5. When the oil is hot and sizzling, remove from the oven, quickly pour on the batter and put immediately back in the oven. The oil should have been so hot that it sizzled as you poured the batter in and leapt away from the sides slightly. It is really important that the oil is red hot when it goes in – that is what is responsible for the rising! Put back in the oven and shut the door.
6. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. It might end up being around 25. Keep an eye on it. It is ready when it has risen and the top is browned and the batter is cooked all through, not doughy. Test by inserting a knife into the middle – when it comes out clean, it is cooked. Try not to be opening the oven to check though – it lets all the hot air out and discourages rising. Remove from the oven and serve straight in the pot, if you like!!
Ingredients (Serves 2 big portions):
6 big, good quality pork sausages
1 red onion, sliced
1 stalk rosemary, leaves removed and leaves chopped
150ml milk
150g plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
Pan: a deep sided cast iron pan/dish or a metal, high sided baking tray
Method:
1. Heat the oven to 220 Celsius. Fry the sausages in a good glug of oil until browned all over. Remove from the pan and set to one side.
2. Fry the red onion until softened and caramelising, about 6 minutes.
3. Add the sausages to the onions, chuck in the rosemary and place in the oven. Add a good glug of oil to the pan so that it covers the bottom of the pan (about….0.5 cm). Leave to heat up.
4. In a bowl add the milk to the eggs and whisk. Gradually sieve in the flour and whisk until very smooth. It should be fairly thin but still a coating consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
5. When the oil is hot and sizzling, remove from the oven, quickly pour on the batter and put immediately back in the oven. The oil should have been so hot that it sizzled as you poured the batter in and leapt away from the sides slightly. It is really important that the oil is red hot when it goes in – that is what is responsible for the rising! Put back in the oven and shut the door.
6. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. It might end up being around 25. Keep an eye on it. It is ready when it has risen and the top is browned and the batter is cooked all through, not doughy. Test by inserting a knife into the middle – when it comes out clean, it is cooked. Try not to be opening the oven to check though – it lets all the hot air out and discourages rising. Remove from the oven and serve straight in the pot, if you like!!
sizzling sausages
batter in a bowl
TOAD. IN A HOLE.
