Toad in the Hole

Here's an English classic I never got around to making while I lived there. Maybe because I wasn't doing enough exercise to justify the amount of dairy and animal fats in this. Not that I am now, but oh well! It tasted exactly as awesome as I hoped it would - soft, collapsing Yorkshire pud and crisp-skinned perfectly-cooked sausage. My only mistake was buying a slightly spicy sausage - this is very much a comfortingly bland sort of dish, so stick to classic mild flavourings. The inspiring recipe is pretty much straight from taste.com.au, except that their recipe serves four, whereas our exactly identical recipe serves two. What can I say, we were hungry! Also, our only accompaniment was a scoop of boiled broad beans and peas, dressed with lemon juice - the original was probably served with potatoes roasted in goose fat, or something equally... winter-warming.


Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• 500g thick beef or pork sausages
• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon rosemary leaves, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place sausages in a 5cm deep, 25cm x 35cm (base) roasting pan, or even better, a Le Creuset baking dish. Fork a few times, and add a very little oil, turning to coat. Roast for 10 minutes, or less if your sausages are small, or until lightly browned. Flip them over for the next stage.

Meanwhile, sift flour and salt into a bowl. Whisk the eggs, milk and rosemary together in a jug. Add gradually to the flour mixture, combining with a fork or whisk to remove the lumps. Don't worry if there are a few smallish lumps left - you don't want to overbeat the flour and strengthen the gluten. Carefully pour the batter over sausages. Bake for 35 minutes or until puffed up and golden.