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Toad in the hole for two

A well-risen batter, whole sausages, a jug of smooth gravy

Easy10 min hands-on · 45 min totalServes 2
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A dish of toad in the hole with sausages set in a puffed golden batter, gravy poured over one corner.

Doubles in a slightly larger tin. Give the batter a few extra minutes in the oven to set through the middle.

The whole trick to a good toad in the hole is heat, not skill. The fat in the tin needs to be properly hot, all but smoking, before the batter goes in, and the oven door needs to stay shut for the whole time it bakes, or the rise collapses before it has set. Everything else is the same batter you would use for any Yorkshire pudding: plain flour, egg and milk, whisked smooth and left to rest while the sausages start to colour on their own. A jug of gravy, made separately and kept smooth, finishes it properly. This is one of the few dishes in the book that looks, from across the table, exactly like the version everyone else is eating.

Suits after surgery, a narrowed bowel, a new stoma, after a low anterior resection

Tags Easily fortified

Ingredients

Contains: Gluten, Egg, Milk, Celery

  • 6plain pork sausages, left whole
  • 2 tbspvegetable oil, for the tin
  • 120 gplain flour, 100 g for the batter, 20 g for the gravy
  • 2eggs
  • 150 mlwhole milk
  • salt
  • 20 gunsalted butter, for the gravy
  • 350 mlbeef or chicken stock, clear and strained, or a good stock cube

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan (220°C). Put the sausages in a small roasting tin, about 20 x 25 cm, with the oil and roast for 15 minutes, until they begin to colour.

  2. Meanwhile, whisk 100 g of the flour with the eggs and a pinch of salt to a smooth thick paste, then gradually whisk in the milk until you have a smooth, thin batter with no lumps. Leave it to stand while the sausages finish.

    The batter rises best if it has ten minutes to rest, so make it as soon as the sausages go in.

  3. Take the tin out of the oven and, with the fat sizzling hot, pour the batter in around the sausages straight away. Return to the oven immediately and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, without opening the door, until well risen and deep golden all over and the sausages are cooked through.

  4. While it bakes, melt the butter for the gravy in a small pan over a low heat, stir in the remaining 20 g of flour and cook for a minute. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the stock a little at a time, then return to a low heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring, until it coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt.

  5. Cut the toad in the hole into portions and serve with the gravy poured over.

Watch-points

  • Use a plain pork sausage with no onion or herbs mixed through it, and check the label.
  • Use plain white flour for the batter, not a wholemeal or seeded blend.
  • Use a stock that is clear and strained, with no vegetable pieces in it, for the gravy.

Make it more nourishing

  • Whisk an extra egg yolk into the batter for more protein with no change to the method.
  • Stir 1 tablespoon of skimmed milk powder into the milk before you add it to the batter.
  • Add 20 g of extra butter to the gravy at the end for a richer finish.

Swaps

Instead of pork sausages, use chipolatas, twice the number and halved in cooking time
smaller sausages crisp faster and fit neatly around the batter
Instead of the flour-and-butter gravy, use good gravy granules made up a little thinner than the packet says
no roux to whisk on a day when standing at the hob is too much
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