Levelled Up Toad In The Hole

We're going all in!! Why did I never think to do this before? Pigs in blankets in Yorkshire puddings? I mean OBVIOUSLY. And stuffing in there too? Revolutionary.

I always thought making a Yorkshire pudding batter was really difficult - probably due to my mum's numerous (amusing) attempts until she eventually got it just right (love u mum). However this might have been due to the fact she would rarely follow actual recipes, preferring to work it out on her own. I'm quite like that now. Somehow whenever I look through one of my (many) recipe books, I gather the ingredients and then go try to make it...without...actually reading the recipe. Usually it works, but when things actually require specific timings it goes to shit. For instance, when making a Yorkshire pudding, and please listen closely, the batter needs to be poured into hot oil for it to rise. I'm pretty sure this is how my mum finally cracked it too.

If I'm honest, I haven't got the timings with this one 100% down, so a skewer will be a big help here. But are we here for perfect food? Probably not. I'm just trying to provide meal ideas that Gordon Ramsey wouldn't necessarily touch, but you feel accomplished from making.

This is a combination of a few recipes I found on BBC Good Food - the one and only holy grail I subscribe to - and frankly, a national treasure. It turns out you can add a lot of fun stuff to a toad in the hole but the batter is all people care about when they leave their reviews. I've stuck to these measurements for a while, but the success rate basically depends on how long I cook it for and the size of the tin. It works best for me when the batter covers 2cm of the sausages and it's cooked for 20 minutes.

I know the main issue with making your own batter is that it takes AGES to cook and never stops being soggy. This one is very fast. It's got less milk in than lots of other recipes, so it's a thicker batter. Just watch you don't over do it!

Ingredients

Serves 3-4 with a side of mash. 2 people with only vegetables.

45 minutes ish

If you're going for the veggie option, let me know how mock bacon works wrapped around vegetarian sausages!

NOTES:
- Leek isn't necessary to this recipe- you could chunky chop red onion instead, or remove it all together and just use the onion gravy.
- A spoonful of wholegrain mustard in the batter mix OR gravy is such a nice touch! Maybe pop it in half of the gravy if someone at dinner doesn't like mustard.

Scroll for the method!

Method

Pre heat your oven to 180C.

Your oven dish needs to be appropriately sized for the amount of batter in this recipe. You can use multiple small dishes too! To roughly check, pour 400ml of water into the dish and if it's 1.5cm - 2cm deep that's good! It doesn't matter that much though. If it's too deep it will just take longer to cook.

Whisk up the eggs in a bowl then stir in the milk, flour and salt until lumps are gone. Leave this to rest.

Prepare the stuffing mix and leave to cool while you chop the leek (1-2cm chunks) and onion for the gravy (half rainbow slices). If you're using onion instead of leek, chop it into chunks too. If they're too small they'll burn. Put them to the side (unmixed) and then form the stuffing into small balls - 80g should be enough for 6.

Add 2 tbsp of oil to the baking dish. Wrap the streaky bacon around the sausages and place into the baking tray, leaving equal space between them (see photos). Place the stuffing balls around them, and then scatter the chopped leek. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until the bacon is nicely pink and the leek is browning.

If the stuffing has absorbed most of the oil, pour in a little more and pop it back in the oven for a minute to heat up. Pour the batter into the dish, between the sausages and stuffing balls, and return to the oven for 20 minutes.

While that's cooking, fry the onions in oil on a medium heat. Once they're soft, add the gravy of your choice. A spoonful of mustard and/or splash of beer/red wine would be lovely!

With 5 minutes to go, start cooking your vegetables.

The Yorkshire pudding should be visibly done, but check the centre with a skewer. Also make sure the sausages are cooked by cutting one in half. If they're not quite ready but the Yorkshire is, or vis versa, cover the dish in foil and return to the oven for 5 minutes.

Plating up

Sometimes the Yorkshire pudding is hard to chisel out - sorry - I suspect a really non-stick dish would work, or even more oil?

Make sure everyone has at least one sausage and stuffing ball! Preferably two of each.

Slather everything in gravy.

This one has definitely got me feeling christmassy.

If you enjoyed this meal idea, you can donate a £2 tip to my blog food & power coffee fund below!