Satisfying toad-in-the-hole
Friday, 03 February 2012 00:00
There’s something about Nigella Lawson that makes one want to cook whatever it is she's cooking. That thought struck me the other day, watching her make a very simple Toad-in-the-hole with her usual casual panache, that most of her avid followers must be men. I mean just look at how she makes the simple act of licking her fingers look so seductive. I know of at least one woman who despises her because of that.
Okay, she's also very easy on the eye, statuesque with raven dark hair, so that helps too, but she's not just all looks: she certainly knows her way around a kitchen.
Her luscious looking toad-in-the-hole inspired me to make my own, and to add a fabulous cabbage salad as an accompaniment.
Many years ago in Johannesburg, we used to take a bunch of kids from our daughters' school away on climbing weekends. One of the climbing gang, Romey Hochfeldt, now grown up and graduated from university, brought this cabbage salad along one weekend, and we so loved it, Mrs M asked for the recipe. Romey typed it up and printed it out, but I suspect that the genesis extends one generation back to her mom, Sally.
The onion gravy I added myself, and kind of made it up as I went along, with a little bit of help from Mrs M
The onion gravy I added myself, and kind of made it up as I went along, with a little bit of help from Mrs M
Ingredients, selection and preparation
Toad-in-the-hole
- 350ml milk
- 4 large eggs
- 250g bread flour
- 1/4tsp salt
- ½ cup canola oil
- 500g pork sausages: squeeze the sausage meat out of the casings, and fashion into 18 to 20 small meatballs.
Onion gravy
- 2 large onions: peeled and sliced into thin rings.
- 50g butter
- 1 tbsp flour: a rounded spoon.
- ½tsp pepper
- 1/2tsp salt
- 250ml beef stock
- 2tsp brown gravy powder
- (Cabbage salad)
- 1 small cabbage: very finely shredded.
- 200g pine kernels: very hard to come by,
- and hideously expensive. If you can't find them or don't like them, then make up a mixture of 200g of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 75ml light soya sauce
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 250 deg C.
Saute the onions in the butter over a medium heat until they are golden brown.
While the onion is cooking, fry the meatballs in a splash of canola oil in a pan until just browned on both sides. Set aside covered.
Put the half cup of oil into the roasting tin and place in the oven.
Meanwhile, make the Yorkshire pudding batter. Pour the milk into a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and whisk thoroughly together.
Add the flour about 50g at a time and whisk in briskly until you have a smooth, thin batter. Set aside.
Once the onions are done, sprinkle over the flour and cook for a few minutes. Add the 250ml of beef stock and the salt and pepper and allow it to simmer covered over a very low heat.
As soon as the oil in the roasting tin is hot, and it must be piping hot, remove it from the oven, sprinkle in the meatballs and pour in the batter evenly.
Return the roasting tin to the oven immediately. Keep an eye on it as you prepare the cabbage salad, as you don't want it to burn. The Yorkshire pudding batter will start to rise fairly quickly, and as it creeps up the sides of the roasting tin, it will start to brown. Turn the oven down to about 220 deg C to prevent burning. You want to allow it to crisp up before you remove it from the oven, otherwise it will collapse when you open the oven. Watch the centre, and when it looks well risen and clearly cooked, it ought to be ready to come out of the oven.
Mix the two teaspoons of gravy powder with about 50ml of water and add to the gravy, stir in well, and cook for a few more minutes.
Make the cabbage salad. Fry the seeds gently in a splash of canola oil until they start to colour, then set aside to cool.
Combine the oil, sugar, vinegar and soya sauce and mix well. Stir in the seeds.
Pour the mixture over the cabbage and mix well.
Serve a generous portion of the toad-in-the-hole with a dollop of cabbage salad, and a small tidal wave of onion gravy. Enjoy!
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Yield: 4 - 6
Wine Match
The wine match is kind of the yang, with the toad-in-the-hole being the yin. I say this because toad-in-the-hole is such a very simple dish, but the wine I paired with it is anything but.
A visit to Blaauwklippen a couple of weeks back to taste Zinfandel with cellar master Rolf Zeitvogel, resulted in a bottle of his sublime 2009 Reserve coming home with me. Clearly remembering the wine, I was sure it would work well with the toad-in-the-hole, and it sure did.
Deep garnet in colour, the nose exudes spicy leathery notes on black fruit. The palate is redolent of Christmas cake and aromatic spiciness, the tannins are mouth-filling, complex and slightly dry, emerging after the prominent acidity has cleaned up the palate, and encouraging the next sip.
"And of course that's what we want people to do," says Mr Zeitvogel with a smile.
Written by Norman McFarlane You are reading Satisfying toad-in-the-hole articles
