Toad in the Hole with Red Onion Gravy

Toad in the Hole

To celebrate National Yorkshire Pudding Day on February 5 – a day, along with National Curry Day, National Full English Breakfast Day and National Bread & Butter Pudding Day (might have made those up, not sure), well worth honouring – I decided to make another British classic, Toad in the Hole. Now, for all you immature readers out there (and I'll admit to being slightly disappointed if there weren't one or two) I'm about to say the word "batter". Batter. There, I've done, so come on, stiffle those giggles and let's be grown-up about this. Yorkshire pudding is ridiculously easy to make and there really is no excuse for limp sausages swimming in soggy batter (seriously, I can end this post right now). The key is making sure you let your batter (see, that's better) rest for a while and that your baking tray has plenty of smoking hot oil in it before adding your mixture. Oh, and don't forget to buy some decent sausages for this – I made another trip to Jamie Oliver's Barbecoa butchery near St Paul's in London and bought these very generous Cumberland beauties.

You can see just by looking at them that they are going to taste amazing – and they didn't disappoint. Serve with creamy mash, peas or greens and the red onion gravy. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
sunflower oil
8 large sausages
4 sprigs rosemary
2 large red onions, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
2 knobs butter
6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 level tbsp good-quality vegetable stock powder

For the batter:
285ml milk
115g plain flour
pinch of salt
3 eggs

Method:
1. Whisk the batter ingredients together and set to one side.
2. Heat the oven to 240C/475F/gas 9. Pour 1cm oil into a baking tray then place this on the middle shelf of the oven. Place a larger tray underneath to catch any oil that overflows.
3. When the oil is very hot add the sausages. Keep an eye on them and allow to cook until lightly golden.
4. Carefully take the tray out of the oven and pour the batter over the sausages. Add 3 sprigs of rosemary and return to the oven. Don't open the oven for at least 20 minutes. Remove when Yorkshire pudding is golden and crisp.
5. For the onion gravy, fry the onions and garlic in butter over a medium heat for about 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the remaining sprig of rosemary.
6. Add the balsamic vinegar and allow to reduce by a half.
7. Add stock powder and enough water for a nice rich consistency. Simmer gently until Toad in the Hole is ready to serve.