Toad in the Hole

A great meal for an autumnal evening. Best served with a seriously Porty onion gravy and garden peas! Rather unhelpfully I never use any measures for the Yorkshire Pudding batter as I tend to do it by feel.

Ingredients

• Thick sausages from the butcher
• Tabasco sauce
• Olive oil

Yorkshire Pudding Batter

• 3 heaped dessert spoons of plain flour
• 3 eggs
• salt & pepper
• chopped up rosemary
• milk

Ingredients for the gravy

• butter
• 2 or 3 shallots
• Ruby Port
• Bisto

How to make the Yorkshire Pudding batter

1. Put the flour, osemary salt and pepper in a decent sized measuring jug
2. Crack the eggs in to the flour mix and with a fork beat the eggs into the flour. It should end up in a stodgy mix with the flour and eggs well mixed.
3. Now add a small amount of milk and stir until it feels like a thick milkshake.
4. Use the blender until its really really well mixed with no lumps of flour in there.
5. Now add more milk until its the consistency of a thin milkshake
6. Put aside for at least an hour

Making the Toad in the Hole

1. Put the sausages in a roasting tray, splatter with tabasco and olive oil and shake them about until they are really covered
2. Put into the top of a hot oven (200c) and bake for about 30 mins stirring a few times
3. After 30 minutes turn up the heat to 225c and let it heat up
4. Add the Yorkshire Pudding batter quickly and shut the door
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown
6. Serve with fresh vegatables and onion gravy.

Making the Porty onion gravy

1. Drop a decent sized knob of butter in a saucepan and heat well
2. Add in thinly sliced shallots and cook them until they soften
3. As they cook add small slots of port to stop it burning
4. If you can be bothered make fresh gravy do so: I just use Bisto as its good enough
5. Add a good dose of port to your taste … i add a layout
6. Reduce so you burn off the alcohol and thicken to a gloopy gravy