toads? in holes?

I love making toad in the hole. It's quite a ridiculous meal, and so it satisfies some childish instinct in me. And it is also so successful and fairly cheap depending on the type of sausages you buy and so delicious and it makes me feel like I'm English for the night and USUALLY the ingredients are close to hand - the only downside is that it seems to create a lot of dirty dishes.

I use Jamie Oliver's recipe - toad in the hole with onion gravy, mashed potatoes and greens.

You will need:
sunflower oil
8 sausages
4 sprigs rosemary
2 large red onions (but green onions will do just as well)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 knobs butter
6 T balsamic vinegar
1 vegetable stock cube or 1 tsp vegetable stock powder

For the batter:
185 mL milk
115 g plain flour
a pinch of salt
3 eggs

Mix the batter ingredients together and put them to one side.

Get a baking tin and put enough oil in that there is a thin layer over the whole container. Jamie recommends a whole centimetre deep but I don't find this much is necessary. Place this in the oven on its highest setting - about 240-250*C or 475*F.

When the oil is very hot, add your sausages. Keep your eye on them and allow them to colour until lightly golden.

About this time, start getting the potatoes ready to cook, in lots of boiling salted water, and make sure your onions etc are chopped. Instructions below the next paragraph on your onion gravy, which takes just over 20 minutes. I like to mash potatoes that still have their skins on, with some butter and milk.

Take the tin carefully out of the oven and pour your batter over the sausages. Throw the sprigs of rosemary into the batter. Place back in the oven, close the door, and leave it alone, the door closed, for at least 20 minutes, as Yorkshire pudding batter is sometimes temperamental. Remove when golden and crisp. Yum yum! Is this not the most ridiculous dish you ever saw?


Onion gravy: Fry the onions and garlic in the butter on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until translucent. I added a little bit of thyme. Add the balsamic vinegar and allow it to cook down by half. At this point, add the stock and a little bit of water. Allow to simmer for a few minutes. Yum yum! Great with both the toad in the hole and the potatoes.

This dish goes down SO WELL on a cold winter night.