Recipe: Toad in the Hole with Roasted Onion Gravy

This is divine comfort food, and awesome on a rainy day. Goes well with large quantities of mashed potato.

What do you need?

Kitchen Stuff:
- flat baking tray
- baking paper
- pan
- oven-proof dish
- electric whisk
- sieve
- large bowl

Ingredients:
- 6 pork sausages, I usually go for pork and apple or red-onion
- sunflower oil
- 75g plain flour
- 1large egg
- 75ml semi-skimmed milk
- 55ml water
- 3 small red onions, finely chopped
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- worcester sauce
- dijon mustard
- salt and pepper
- 425 ml of vegetable stock

(Enough for 2 people)

Preparation time 25 minutes, Cooking time 45 mins

Step 1 -- Preheat the oven

This needs to be quite high to begin with, about 200oC

Step 2 -- Get the sausages and onions going

The gravy is a really good component of this. The onions make it special. Put some baking paper on the tray, and then spread the chopped onions across it. Put a couple of teaspoons of sunflower oil over them and then sprinkle the sugar over them too. Stir them round with a spoon to make sure they're fairly well covered in both, then put them in the oven.

At the same time, add the sausages, separated out, to the oven-proof dish. Prick with a fork and put in the oven. this wil let some of the juices seep out. Leave for 10 minutes, which will be hopefully enough time to complete...

Step 3 -- Make the batter

Sieve the flour into a bowl, holding it up high to make sure there's lots of air caught up in it too. Make a depression in the centre of the flour with the back of a spoon, and break the egg into it, adding a crunch of salt and pepper. Mix the milk and water together in a seperate jug, and add gradually to the flour mixture while whisking it using the electric whisk - slowly to begin with until everything is incorporated.

Step 4 -- Check the sausages

Hopefully it's been 10 minutes by now. Check the sausages, if they havent released much fat yet, add some some sunflower oil and leave the tray in the oven for another 5 minutes, so it gets really hot. At the same time give the onions a little stir.

Step 5 -- Add the batter

Take out the sausages, making sure the oil is hot now. Quickly add the batter, all around the sausages, and place back into the oven. Take out the onions, which should be blackened around the edges. The sausages will cook for about 30 minutes. don't open the door!

Step 6 -- Making the gravy

Put the stock into a small pan, and add acouple of teaspoons of worcester sauce and a teaspoon of dijon mustard. Add the onions from the baking try, dont worry if some of the oil comes along too. Take some of the liquid out into a small jug or cup, and gradually stir in the about a dessert spoon of flour, so it thickens. Once it's all mixed in (no lumps!) return it to the main pan and keep stirring. Stir and simmer the gravy until it's reduced and thickened.

Step 7 -- Check on the Toad in the Hole

After half an hour the batter should have puffed up really nicely and be golden and brown. It might not be as crispy in the centre, that's ok.

Served with mash and the gravy ^_^