Weekly recipes coming from your favourite kitchen.

This week, Mr Pickard (Chef Manager) shows you how to make the British classic, Toad in the Hole. 

We would love to see your creations, send your photos to [email protected].

Ingredients

8 x Sausages (Can use vegetarian sausages as an alternative)

3 tbs Rapeseed Oil

285ml Milk

115g Plain Flour

3 large Eggs

1 x Red Onion

4 x Cloves Garlic

1 x Oxo stock Cube

1 tsp Marmite

Worcestershire Sauce (to taste)

Method

1. Pre heat your oven to 240 degrees centigrade
2. Add the Rapeseed oil to a baking dish and place in the oven to heat.
3. Add the Milk, Eggs and Plain Flour to a mixing bowl and whisk till all the ingredients are blended together. Season with a little salt and pepper.
4. If you want to add to the flavour try adding some English Mustard or Horseradish to the batter.
5. When the oil is hot add the sausages and cook them till they start to go golden brown in colour, turning them to ensure even cooking.
6. Remove the baking dish from the oven and pour the batter over the sausages. Be careful as the oil will be very hot and may spit when doing so.
7. Place back in the oven and cook until the batter is well risen and has a nice brown colour to it. Approximately 30-40 mins depending on the size of your baking dish.
8. Try not to open the oven door for the first 20 mins of cooking as the batter may sink.
9. Whilst the batter is cooking slice the Red Onion and Garlic and fry in a pan with a little oil on a medium heat till softened.
10. Add about ½ pint of hot water to the pan then sprinkle in the Oxo cube and add the marmite.
11. Add some of the gravy mix to the bowl used for the batter and scrape all the remaining batter back into the gravy. This will thicken the gravy slightly due to the flour in the batter.
12. Allow to simmer and adjust the seasoning to taste. I like to finish the gravy with a few dessert spoons of Worcestershire Sauce.
13. When the Toad in the Hole is cooked, remove from the oven, portion and serve with your chosen potatoes and vegetables.  I prefer creamy mash, steamed carrots and garden peas but there are numerous vegetables to choose from.
14. Enjoy.