Toad in the Hole

Toad-In-The-Hole?

Firstly why? It’s sausages in batter, what’s the resemblance? Who cares? Our old neighbours used to call it sausage toad, well at least the sausages get a mention, so does batter equal toad?  And do Australians still call sausages “Snags”? Too many questions, I'll be asking "Why are we here" next!

Anyway cutting to the chase, as part of a buy-2-get-1-free offer at the butchers, I acquired 6 beef sausages, just perfect for this recipe.

First you need a batter, take 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup milk and 4 whole eggs. Whisk into a batter adding a little salt and pepper. Leave to stand. (Any lumps will float up and can be broken down)

Peel 4 medium potatoes and cut into chunks, boil for about 10 minutes and put into a baking dish with some peeled shallots

Add some beef stock to the potato water, and thicken with cornflour.

 A by product of the potatoes are the peelings. Fry in hot oil to make chips to garnish your lunchtime sandwich.

We still have glorious weather here in Devon, although it’s a bit colder overnight, we managed to get to the beach yesterday and had lunch sitting on the sea wall in Paignton.

Yvonne’s been looking out for some stone Gargoyles to guard the front door, the ones we had seen were expensive and had unsuitable expressions, but we found these two in a pound shop

Whilst I was preparing the toad, I made a Sour Rye loaf and some Focaccia

We were eating at 5, so at 4 I started by browning the sausages in a pan for 10 minutes. At the same time I put the oven on to warm up to 200 degrees, with an oiled deep baking dish on the middle shelf. I also put the potatoes and shallots in.

When the oven was up to temperature I transferred the sausages to the dish and poured the batter mix over, stirring it first. Keep the oven door shut for 20 minutes at this point, to give the batter time to rise and set. Meanwhile cook the veggies and warm the gravy.

After 20 minutes, you can open the oven and turn the potatoes, check the batter is not burning and that the bottom has cooked, I decided to give it all an extra 5 minutes, but its very oven dependant, we happen to like very crisp pudding.

When you’re happy, plate up.

There was a bit of batter left, a treat for Norma’s Chickens. The sausages will make a good sandwich tomorrow.