Toad in the Hole

I have a younger brother. (I used to refer to him as my 'little' brother but this is no longer an accurate description considering he's nine years younger and about six inches taller than me!) Like many teenagers, he watches a lot of TV and the last time I went round to see my family, he was planning to make a recipe that he had seen on the BBC's Junior Masterchef. He had been inspired by the first episode of the series where the contestants had been asked to make a simple toad in the hole.

We modified the recipe a little and I thought we should put it up as the Beeb don't seem to have a recipe listing for Junior Masterchef. A disappointing lack of follow through, in my opinion.

Lil Bro carefully measures out the milk for the batter

Toad in the Hole with onion gravy

You will need: (to serve 6)

18 sausages
2 onions
25g butter
1 tsp flour1 bayleaf
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
300ml stock
a grating of nutmeg
sunflower oil

for the batter
150g plain flour
2 eggs
150ml milk
110ml water

- Preheat oven to 200c
- Place the sausages in a heavy bottomed pan and rub with a little oil then turn on the heat and brown the sausages all over.
- While you're doing that, mix together the flour and eggs then add the milk and water and whisk until smooth. Stir in the wholegrain mustard (you don't have to use the full 2 tbsp if you're not a huge mustard fan) and season with a little salt and pepper. - Lightly grease the ovendish with oil and pop in the oven for 10 minutes to heat up. By now, your sausages should be nicely browned all over so once your dish is warm, spread the sausages out in one layer and pour the batter over the top. Wiggle the dish from side-to-side to disperse the batter.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, slice the onions and soften in the butter with a drizzle of oil until soft "like worms" (bro quote) then sprinkle the sugar and stir until it dissolves completely. - Add the cider vinegar and stir until mostly evaporated. Add flour (optional if you want to thicken your gravy) and stir until the onions are completely coated. Add the bayleaf and nutmeg then add the stock and stir.
- Put the gravy on low heat and continue to stir occasionally until your toad in the hole is ready. It should be pleasantly crisp on top and soft and springy underneath with the sausages cooked all the way through. Serve with your choice of vegetables and gravy (minus the bayleaf). If you're a real mustard fan like I am, add a tbsp or so of mustard to the gravy too!

Our finished gravy