The Joy of Toads

There are just some days when only comfort food will do and 'Toad in the Hole' is my favourite. It has to be served with onion gravy for that is the law and let no one tell you any different!
This Sunday was just one of those days  so after a morning spent in the garden pruning a large beech tree and emptying the compost heap I was ready for just this joy!

The secret is in the mix for the Yorkshire pudding.
One egg, large pinch of salt and 300ml of milk whizzed in the liquidiser, add 4 desert spoons of plain flour and whizz again then leave the mix to stand for  at least 30 minutes .
In the meantime cook the sausages, any good quality ones will do, we often have Toulouse or Sicilian with their really pungent herby and garlicy taste but this week we went for meat free sausages with red onion and rosemary. Cook the sausages so they are just cooked and not brown on the outside. Don't worry they are going back into the oven again soon and if you overcook them at this stage they will be hard when you have finished.
Put a heavy bottomed dish into the oven with some oil enough to cover the bottom of the dish, purists use lard but to my mind vegetable oil is better.
This needs to go into the oven at 200C for about 5 minutes till the oil is really hot.
Then put in the precooked sausages and whizz the Yorkshire batter again then pour it straight in and put the dish in the oven for about 40 minutes.
When it comes out it should be firm , airy, golden and delicious. Serve with mashed potato, cabbage with cracked black pepper and cabbage and of course the obligatory onion gravy!