At last, back in Belleau Kitchen, where I belong… i’m very tired, need sleep and comfort food.
It was an excellent weekend of fun and frolics and cake porn (check out the picture of Tanya’s incredible birthday cake and you’ll know what I mean!!!) but i’m glad to be home.
We rarely drive back from London on a Sunday, in day light, so we were salivating as we passed pub after pub offering Traditional Sunday Roasts… The V happened to mention in passing that he’d love a Yorkshire Pudding and although my brain is too tired to think, let alone cook, I thought the best I could offer would be a toad-in-the-hole… a most traditional of British dishes, combining a roasted meat and a Yorkshire Pudding, without the rigmarole of a full-on TSR.
It also gives me a chance to launch my ‘Perfect Roast Potato’ challenge… (see next post…)
Pretty simple affair this… first, find a good quality sausage… nice and plump. I’ve got a really good pork and leek number… and I’ve roasted mine first in the oven (no pricking with a fork…) with some olive oil to help it on its way. For The Big V, i’ve gone for some good quality veggie sausages (Quorn this time) and added a knob of butter and some olive oil to the dish. Both the meat and veggie version need more fat than usual to help the pudding cook.
For the batter (this was for 2 dishes, so you can change it to suit…)
6oz plain flour
2 eggs
6fl oz milk
4fl oz water
salt and pepper
Place the flour in a bowl and break the eggs into it pouring the milk and water mixture on slowly as you whisk it all in to a smooth double cream like consistency. This batter does not need to rest, so make it just before you’re ready to use it.
So I roast them until the sausages are almost ready, then pour over the pudding batter and bake for a further 25 mins, or until the batter has risen and the puddings are golden.
So simple, so delicious and so perfectly ‘Sunday after a weekend of madness’, perfect.
eat and of course, enjoy!
I am drooling AND writing. I need to eat that now!
OK, your task, should you choose to accept it, is to please please please invent a vegan version of toad in the hole! Looks absolutely delicious and, after the day I've just had, toad in the hole with chips, mushy peas and a mug of tea would be most splendid. What can I say? I'm a peasant in need of carbs.
Man oh man that cake is something – but I'd prefer to be tucking into that toad right now!!
Pure comfort food, looks lovely, and actually so does that cake.
When I was vegan I used soya products to replace the dairy products, a handful of hemp seeds blitzed in the processor with water to make a gummy mess (that replaced the egg texture) and baking powder to replace the raising agent that the egg would have provided. You will need to add herbs to the batter as the hemp seeds can be quite bitter but just a pinch will do. Also, you can buy straight egg replacement (no need for hemp OR baking powder) from the health food shop, but I've never used it so I don't know how it works. Try the hemp thing though- it really is amazing how like an egg white it is in texture!!