Traditional British Toad-In-The-Hole and Mini Toads Too!

French Tart's Note:

Comfort food at its best! A traditional recipe handed down to me by my Mum and her Mum before her......it was my favourite after school tea time meal & is still a firm family favourite even now! I serve mine with lashings of onion gravy and piles of fluffy & buttery mashed potatoes. I used to make mini versions of this recipe for my daughter when she was little - they make great appetizers before a Halloween/Bonfire night supper or a children's Party! For the mini version, just use a small cake/pie tins or a small muffin tray and split your sausages into quarters OR use cocktail sausages. The following recipe is for 4 people served with potatoes & gravy - the recipe can easily be doubled for more people or if served by itself.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 lb sausage or 8 sausages
• 4 ounces plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 pint milk
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tablespoon drippings or 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 220°C or 450°F.
2. Pour the dripping or vegetable oil into a large metal roasting tin. Place the tin in the preheated oven whilst you make the batter to heat the oil/dripping up.When the fat is hot, add the sausages and turn them over to coat them.Cook for about 10 minutes.
3. Make the Yorkshire pudding batter - Mix flour, salt & pepper together in a large roomy mixing bowl. Make a hollow in the centre & add the egg, mixing it into the flour with a wooden spoon.Add the milk gradually until all the flour and egg is worked in and smooth. Add any remaining milk and beat well with a balloon whisk or hand held beater.
4. Take the roasting tin with the sausages out from the oven and very QUICKLY pour the batter over the partly cooked sausages. Swirl around to make sure it covers everywhere.
5. Put them back into the oven cook for a further 30 minutes or until the batter has puffed up and the sausages are sizzling and brown!
6. Cut into 4 quarters and serve straight away with hot onion gravy & mashed potatoes!
7. You can also use pork or lamb chops instead of sausages - making sure they are not too thick. I often use pork chops with quartered apple and stuffing balls which is really lovely!
8. MINI TOADS:.
9. Twist a sausage into half and carefully cut through the skin to make 2 sausages - do this once more to each half making a total of 4 small sausages out of one big sausage. (Or use party cocktail sausages - mini frankfurters) carry on until you have made 12 mini sausages. Follow the instructions above, but only cook the mini sausages for about 5 minutes first and then another 15 minutes with the batter. Serve with tomato ketchup or home made tomato sauce/relish and mugs of soup for a great Winter supper!

Reviews

[Scotland]

Sep 13 2009: Excellent and very easy! Hadn't had Toad-in-the-Hole in ages. Had some British sausages I picked up from an import store. I thought 220C was closer to 425F, but wish I'd stuck with the 450F as stated, I had to keep it in the (gas) oven for longer. Served this with mash, green beans and an onion gravy. My little ones loved it too! Thanks for another great recipe French Tart. Update: just an FYI for others, a British 1/2 pint is 10 oz, not 8.

[squirty lee]

i acn hardly wait for the end result as being a man cooking is not one of my strong points, but i shall keep all posted with my results.

[rasully]

My husband cooked this for Tea tonight and it was briliant, I hadnt had it in ages and this really hit the spot. We used a medium sized roasting tin and were very happy with the resulting Toad int' hole. Hubby popped the batter in the fridge an hour before using, and added a pinch of baking soda to the mix to make sure it rose as we have had some flat ones previously.