Toad in the hole

This post is especially for people from the US and is a recipe for a dish familiar in the UK called 'Toad in the Hole'. It's mentioned in our book 'A Vested Interest '

"Yeucht!" you say, "I'm NOT going to eat a toad!"

Don't worry because the recipe doesn't include any toads. Here's the ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 12 oz plain flour (1½ cups)
• 3½ cups milk
• teaspoon of salt
• 6 sausages, thick links
• vegetable fat eg. Crisco

Put about 3 tablespoons of the vegetable fat in an ovenproof dish and put it in the oven at it's highest setting to melt.

While it's getting hot beat the eggs, flour, salt and milk to make a batter.

When the fat is hot take it out the oven and pour enough of the batter into the dish to cover it to a depth of half an inch. Return it to the oven to start cooking.

In a frying pan brown the sausages.

Once the batter in the oven has set, add the sausages and pour over them the rest of the batter. Return it to the oven to cook at 220 °C / 420 °F for 30 - 40 min.

Serve with onion gravy and sliced green beans.

Easy to make, inexpensive and totally delicious on a cold winter day.

If you like this one, maybe I'll tell you how to make 'Spotted Dick.'

Incidentally 'A Vested Interest ' is a romantic suspense/technothriller and it's free at Amazon.com

An extra bit - Pancakes

Got too much batter? Pop it in the fridge and use it the next day to make some English pancakes. These will be little like those served in the US.

Use a small frying pan on a high heat. To it add a small knob of vegetable fat or sunflower oil. Once it's melted add about a tablespoon of the batter and swirl it round to cover the base of the pan thinly. Let the batter set then flip it over - it should be golden brown on the 'done' side. Of course an expert, (ex as in useless; spurt as in drip under pressure), would toss the pancake to flip it over but don't be ashamed to use a spatula.

I use the old Yorkshire expression 'When it's brown, it's done; when it's black it's bu**&rd'.

When both sides are cooked pop it on a plate in the oven to keep warm while you cook the rest of the batter.

To serve the pancakes, drizzle on some lemon juice and sprinkle them with sugar. (No-one said this was going to be a healthy recipe!)

Alternatively you could spread on some pie filling and cream before rolling up the pancakes.

Posh name for this style of pancake is Crêpe Suzette