With the last delivery I had from East London Steak Company, I ordered some beef dripping to make perfect crispy roast potatoes and tasty Yorkshire pudding. I know this is very much a winter warmer but the weather turned warm before I got to try out their beef dripping. As the sun goes away, the chill has returned to London so I went ahead and made the English classic, Toad in a Hole.
Ingredients
12 chipolata Sausages
1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour
2 Eggs
beef Dripping
Salt and Pepper
1 small Turnip, peeled and cubed
About 4 Potatoes, peeled & cubed
1 Onion
500ml red Wine
knob of Butter
1 Bay leaf
Recipe
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees and place your sausages onto a baking tray. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes, or until half done and put to one side. Keep your oven on and increase the temperature to 200 degrees and keep warm.
Boil the turnips for 10 minutes, then add the potatoes and continue to cook until both vegetables are tender. Then strain through a colander, add salt, pepper and butter and mash away. Incorporate a little milk to get the mash going, and once most of the lumps are gone you can use a wooden spoon to beat away any remaining smaller lumps. Keep warm until ready to use.
In a Yorkshire pudding or muffin tray add a couple of drops of beef dripping. Or if you have frozen dripping, shave a thin square off and put that at the bottom of each hole. Put this in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the dripping starts to sizzle.
To make the Yorkshires, beat the two eggs, then add flour and milk. Mix well to form the batter and leave to one side for 10 minutes. When the dripping starts to sizzle in the oven, take the tray out and use a ladle to pour the batter mixture into the holes filling just under ¾ of the way. Drop a sausage into each hole and pop into the hot oven on the top shelf to cook for 30 minutes. Check every now and again to ensure that the tops don’t burn.
Make your gravy by heating a pan and dry frying the bay leaf and onion. Then add the red wine and leave it to reduce down to 20% of it’s original. Take off the heat and add the butter and season with salt and pepper. The sauce should have a deep red colour all the way through. Strain through a fine sieve.
Assemble your dish by placing mash on the bottom, toad in the hole on top and drizzle with gravy. Eat.
I decided on portioned toad in a hole Yorkshire puddings instead of making it in one big baking tray so that there was a better ratio of sausage to crispy pudding, and so I had portioned ready-to-heat leftovers to snack on the following day. Not to mention the fact that I thought they looked a bit better, to the point where they’re almost food porn with the phallic sausages sticking out of the Yorkshires moist with rich gravy.
I made a mistake with my gravy actually, it turned out a lot thinner than it should have done because (and I learnt this from Celebrity Masterchef this morning) I added the butter whilst cooking the onions. I have now learnt from this mistake and will ensure that future gravies are cooked to the correct richness and thickness. I think the dish still looks pretty with this error nonetheless.
The mash comprises of neeps and tatties as I had received the smallest fully grown turnip ever from my vegbox delivery. I put lashings of butter and milk to make the mash as creamy as possible to serve this dish justice. The one thing I find about mixing other root vegetables with potatoes to make mash is the lumpiness than ensues, particularly if you do not have a potato ricer to get the root veg and fine as possible. So far the only way I’ve discovered of ensuring smooth creamy mash is just to keep on mashing and mixing to allow the butter and milk to break down those lumps.
In the end the Yorkshires had a perfect beefy sweetness to match the onion gravy. The sausages were pork and mustard so they had a good sharpness and saltiness to match the creamy mashed potatoes. I mean these flavour combinations are classic and comforting, a great way to nurse a hangover from the Royal Wedding Street Parties.
12 chipolata Sausages
1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour
2 Eggs
beef Dripping
Salt and Pepper
1 small Turnip, peeled and cubed
About 4 Potatoes, peeled & cubed
1 Onion
500ml red Wine
knob of Butter
1 Bay leaf
Recipe
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees and place your sausages onto a baking tray. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes, or until half done and put to one side. Keep your oven on and increase the temperature to 200 degrees and keep warm.
Boil the turnips for 10 minutes, then add the potatoes and continue to cook until both vegetables are tender. Then strain through a colander, add salt, pepper and butter and mash away. Incorporate a little milk to get the mash going, and once most of the lumps are gone you can use a wooden spoon to beat away any remaining smaller lumps. Keep warm until ready to use.
In a Yorkshire pudding or muffin tray add a couple of drops of beef dripping. Or if you have frozen dripping, shave a thin square off and put that at the bottom of each hole. Put this in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the dripping starts to sizzle.
To make the Yorkshires, beat the two eggs, then add flour and milk. Mix well to form the batter and leave to one side for 10 minutes. When the dripping starts to sizzle in the oven, take the tray out and use a ladle to pour the batter mixture into the holes filling just under ¾ of the way. Drop a sausage into each hole and pop into the hot oven on the top shelf to cook for 30 minutes. Check every now and again to ensure that the tops don’t burn.
Make your gravy by heating a pan and dry frying the bay leaf and onion. Then add the red wine and leave it to reduce down to 20% of it’s original. Take off the heat and add the butter and season with salt and pepper. The sauce should have a deep red colour all the way through. Strain through a fine sieve.
Assemble your dish by placing mash on the bottom, toad in the hole on top and drizzle with gravy. Eat.
2 comments:
That looks just fabulous! I love Toad in the hole and you have made these individual portions look just delicious.
Beautiful presentation Maya, it looks wonderful
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