Toad in the Hole

We love food, and we love to travel. Whenever we travel, we continually explore a country’s culture through its food. What better way? It is perfect for us, filling our bellies with tasty ethnic treats.

I will often research and find out what the national dish of a country is or what typical meals are served and then try to eat those while in the country. I later try to replicate them at home. When I searched for United Kingdom’s national dish, it came back with chicken tikka masala. While in London, we did eat ‘English’ Indian food and enjoyed it. However, I was looking for popular English dishes. So I searched for ‘what is the most popular food in the UK’. Topping the list was toad-in-the-hole, a traditional English dish consisting of sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter.

We could not find it on the menu during our short stay in London (we were only there for three days). However, I decided this dish would represent the United Kingdom as a country we had visited.

I’ve made this a few times before, and it has always been a hit. The other day, Dwayne and I had it for dinner, and it is seriously moreish. A few years back, we had many people staying with us, and I made this as a breakfast dish. It was well-received; everyone loved it.

Table of Contents

Ingredients

1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil
8 pork sausages
8 slices of bacon
2 cups plain flour
2 eggs lightly beaten
400ml water
2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
12-15 cherry tomatoes
*Caramelised onion jam to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 220c. Add oil to a baking dish and heat in the oven while you prepare the ingredients.

Wrap a slice of bacon around each sausage. Add sausages to a cold non-stick frypan and heat on med-high. Cook sausages for approximately 10 mins, turning until they are brown all over.

Sift the flour into a bowl and gradually whisk the beaten eggs and the water. Add a couple of pinches of rosemary and whisk until smooth.

Arrange the sausages in the preheated baking dish and pour the batter around them. Scatter with the remaining rosemary and pop the tomatoes around the sausages.

Bake for 25 – 30mins until it has risen a little and is browning.

Heat the onion jam, drizzle over the toad-in-the-hole, or serve the jam as a side dish. It is the perfect compliment.