Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A British Dish - ' Toad In The Hole '



After reading Joanna's post on how the British named their restuarant / cafe/ pubs after animals name , I was not surprised at all when I read a food article on the funny names that comes with the foods the Brits eat. One eg. is Toad In The Hole. And ' toad in the hole' is a visual metaphor as the sausages in the dish resemble a toad sticking its head out of a hole. It is actually a traditional English dish - comprising of sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding batter and served with vegetables and  onion gravy. It actually tastes better than its names suggests, and it is a common school dinner dish in England :)



So,  out of curiousity , I decided to cook this out for our dinner and true enough it was deliciously good ....light and easy and flavorful too.  Joanna , " if you are reading this post, maybe you would like to cook  this for your dinner too. You will love this, I am sure ! "




On impulse I added in mix herbs to make it more flavorful :)


baked in yorkshire pudding batter...mmmmm



do they look like toads sticking out their head out lol!



mmmmm...yummm good for children and adults
served with their favourite veggies and onion gravy....

D.E.L.I.S.H !



Toad In The Hole
( serves 4 )


Yorkshire Pudding

100gm plain flour
2 eggs
150 ml milk
100 ml water
salt and pepper to taste

4 sausages
2 onions, peeled- halved and sliced
1 tbsp olive oil

mixed herbs for extra flavor *

To prepare the batter :

Sift flour into a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Whisk in eggs, milk and water until a smooth and thick batter forms. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let rest for 2 hours.

To Bake :


Preheat oven to 180 °C . Place sausages spaced apart in a baking dish. Scatter onions and drizzle with olive oil and mixed herbs if using. Bake for 20 minutes , or until sausages start to color . Remove from the oven.

Increase oven temperature to 220 °C . Pour the batter over the sausages in the hot pan. Return it to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until batter is well risen and golden brown. Remove from oven and serve warm with onion gravy.



Onion Gravy 


1 tbsp butter
1 onion
- peeled and thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp f plain flour
300ml chicken stock
1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper

To prepare gravy :


Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add onion and bay leaf, sweat onion until brown and caramelised. Stir in the flour. Whisk in chicken stock and simmer for 5 minutes, or until gravy reaches the desired consitency. Add Worchestershire sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf.



Enjoy !



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27 comments:

  1. mmmmmm... this looks delicious !! I might wanna try making this .. hehehehe

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  2. thank you so so much for this recipe.. i was indeed looking out for one...

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  3. Heard of this but have never tried it! I'm sure it's yummy with sausages and yorkshire pudding!

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  4. This looks like party food for eight-year-olds. I admire your willingness to give it a try.

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  5. Those sausages looked like KeroKeroKeroppi's eyes!!!

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  6. This is very neat dish! I love the name.

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  7. I love it!! you are such an adventurous cook! I hope your family really appreciates all the work you do!! Thanks for sharing your toad in the hole with us!

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  8. looks tasty!! how fun! my inlaws eat toast with a circle cut out of the middle and an egg fried in there and call it the same thing, but i was excited to see what this was!!! great post!

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  9. Jo...light , delicious and easy to prepare dinner dish for you , do try it out if you are keen and served with lots of veggies. The onion gravy is easy to prepare too . Anyway since you are there in UK, must at least try out their traditional English dish :)

    Susan & Abraham....thanks for dropping by andyou are welcome :)

    Ann....:) Jo found a lot of this prepared in the supermart in Sheffield but have yet to try it out too :)

    Carol....yess...great for kids parties . I wanted something light so eager to try out and see what is toad in the hole all about :p

    Wendy....:) yup but this taste good with the onion gravy ..best!

    Bunkycooks...cute name and I love it too :)

    Chef Dennis...:) you are welcome. I am the adventurous one in the family so they have to tag along and forced to eat the food I tried out or they can fast for the day but so far they were never disappointed :p

    Cocina...oh I must try that too...could be fun to serve that for breakfast for the family :0 Thanks for the idea! :)

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  10. delicious . Will try making this

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  11. I am going to try this.. go buy sausage this weekend first! :p

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  12. Very creative! Simple dinner for 2!

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  13. I was just thinking of toad-in-the-hole-yesterday for an up-coming party and now I see it. Looks like it's a confirmation that I should make....haha :D

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  14. i'm sure my kids will love this dish, sound yummy!

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  15. Mmmmm! I do like a good Toad-In-The-Hole! Although, english sausages are nothing like hotdog sausages at all! They are so much tastier!

    You've made a very tasty looking dish all the same! Great with agood gravy and plenty of veggies! When I was a student at Uni, one of my friends said for dinner, she'd make a giant yorkshire pudding and eat it with gravy! Tasty and delicious! (I lived at home so I didn't have to worry so much about food costs!)

    I agree the pubs can have strange names but not always the cafes and restaurants - maybe in the town that Jo went to though!

    You've got me thinking about food with funny names - have you come across "Pigs-In-Blankets"? :0)

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  16. Kathy...do try making this for Joshua. he may likes it with a gravy that he likes :)

    Claire...:)

    Cheah....just nice for the two of us...light and easy and delish with lots of veggies and lots of onion gravy...yumm !

    Mary Moh....heehee looks like it is a confirmation then . Great for parties :)

    Sonia....sure your kids would love it :)

    Plum Leaf...how are you getting on ? baby due when ? heehee can't wait for you to post up on your baby :)

    This is a basic 'toad in the hole 'dish...onion gravy is just perfect for this dish and I find it cute to have animal names like that for dishes :)

    Oh....thanks for telling me another dish with animal names...' pigs in blankets "....is it sausage wrapped buns ? :) I am curious what else is in the list of animals named dishes :))

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  17. lol Elin! I just remembered how you love Piggies! You are close! Pigs in Blankets are little sausages (not hot dog ones mind) wrapped in streaky bacon. They are a part of Christmas lunch in UK. The sausages are the thin ones called chipolatas, about the thickness of your little finger and can be the cocktail sized ones which is half the length of your little finger!
    Can't think of any other animal named foods!

    Junior not with us yet! Will keep you posted! ;0) Wriggling lots though! (17days to go!)

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  18. Plum Leaf....add me to your msn then we can chat since you are on long leave prior to your maternity leave :)

    You just gave me an idea what to cook next...hahaha next would be 'pigs-in-blankets ' lol! Thanks, will surely take a peek into your blog after the 17 days ;p . Junior must be active like the Momsie *wink watch out Junior can sing as well as the momsie too ! :)

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  19. wow, this is so delicious! You are such a great cook!

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  20. Hi HHB,
    Thanks for dropping by. Heehee nay, I am not a good cook...still lots to learn :) great mom maybe and you too a great mom to your two boys :) I am your great fan :) and learning from you too * wink

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  21. MaryMoh,

    you can make small versions of this if you chop up sausages or use cocktail sausages. Then use a bun tin to pour the batter in and a sausage in each (bit like the small individual yorkies!). I think I've seen it in the freezer section aimed at kiddies dinners - they call them Tidgy Toads! lol

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  22. Oh, Elin, I've tried the toast with the egg in it! It's fun!
    I use a square slice of bread but my cutter is a cute daisy shape and if you are good, you can crack the egg carefully in and the yolk sits in the middle like a daisy! Doesn't look as nice with a heart shape cutter!
    You put a little oil in the pan first, add your bread with the middle cut out, crack egg in and fry gently. Up to you if you want to flip egg over, if not, I suggest toast one side of bread first and have untoasted side down in pan before you crack egg in! Makes a fun wkend brekkie! :0)

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  23. Plum Leaf...that's a cute name ' Tidgy Toad ' haha I am sure Mary would make this for her coming party :)

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  24. I love recipes like this. They are such fun to make!

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  25. This is one of my favorite food! I use to make yorkshire puddings then will use left over batter with Italian spicy sausage to make this Toad In The Hole for the next morning. Nice one!

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  26. Mother Rimmy....yess fun to make and easy job too :p

    Grace....:) this is easy job and a light and delicious meal

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  27. Elin, I have this recipe and about to try it out too! Yours look really scrumptious. I think it must be so good with those english sausage! Hope you're having a great weekend. Lucky Claire going to be your white mouse again. LOL! hehe...
    Cheers, Kristy

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