Individual Toad in the Hole with Quick Onion Gravy

Make the individual toad in the hole recipe feature on Escape to the Farm.

Serves 4

Instead of using cocktail sausages, you could replace them with 375g of sausage meat. Try flavouring the sausage meat by mixing through a tablespoon each of chopped fresh sage and chives. Then roll into 24 equal sized balls.

Ingredients

• 3tbsp beef dripping or oil such as sunflower or vegetable
• 24 raw cocktail sausages, or 12 chipolatas twisted in half

For the batter

• 100g plain flour
• 1tsp mustard powder
• 2 large eggs
• 175ml whole milk
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the gravy

• 25g butter
• 1 medium onion, finely sliced
• 1tbsp flour
• 1-2 tbsp red onion chutney
• 1 – 2 tsp Dijon mustard, to taste
• 500ml beef stock
• a couple of shakes of Worcestershire sauce

To serve

• Mashed potato
• Peas

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C.
2. Make the batter: Sift the flour and mustard powder into a bowl and make a well in the middle.
3. Add the eggs and a little milk and whisk. Gradually whisk in the rest of the milk, being careful not to over-mix the batter. Season really well.
4. You can leave the batter to stand in the fridge for a few hours at this point. Or use straight away.
5. Transfer to a jug for ease of pouring.
6. Heat a heavy based frying pan on the hob over a medium heat and add 1tbsp of the dripping.
7. Brown the sausages in the frying pan until coloured on all sides. If you are using sausage meat, do the same with your balls. Remove from the pan once browned and set to one side. They do not need to be cooked through at this point. Keep the pan for your gravy, there is no need to clean it out.
8. Add the dripping to a 12 hole muffin tin, dividing it equally, and place into the preheated oven for 5 minutes to heat up.
9. Meanwhile, start on the gravy: Using the pan that the sausages were browned in, melt the butter and add the onion along with a pinch of salt. Sauté until the onion is softened and golden – the darker you take the onions, the darker your gravy will be. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon as the onions cook. This will help to add any of the delicious stuck bits of sausage to the gravy.
10. Once the muffin tin is hot, remove from the oven. Place two sausages into each hole then pour the batter over the top, dividing it equally between the holes.
11. Put straight back in the oven as quickly as possible.
12. Bake for 15 minutes, until the batter is risen and golden.
13. Stir the flour into the onions and cook for a further couple of minutes, stirring as you go.
14. Stir in the chutney and mustard. Then slowly add the stock to the pan, mixing as you add. Add a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce.
15. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until thickened to your liking. Adjust the seasoning, adding more chutney and/or mustard if needed.

Serve the individual toad in the hole with the gravy. Delicious with mash and peas.

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