A Day for comfort food
I have been cold and so has OH, which he never is. He has gone so far as to buy us both new coats. One of the best coats I have ever had and which actually kept me warm was a Marmot coat. In the end OH bought me two of these despite them being extremely pricey. We tend to buy them when there is a sale on because of that, but even then they are still pricey. They are filled with down. However with me constantly feeling the cold even in the middle of summer due to the auto immune conditions I have, they are a blessing. I am waiting for delivery of mine which is expected tomorrow sometime. So I shall be very pleased to receive that delivery. The one that is being delivered tomorrow is a full coat. I would have preferred it in Navy but was unable to source this so I have a black one on its way.
It has been cold today and I felt a bit lack lustre and slept deeply. When I did wake I was not operating on all systems. So it has been a slowish sluggish day.
We have our Gas Engineer, a lady coming on Thursday to sort out the new cooker and the heating then I should be able to get on with my plans for cooking which I am looking forward to. I have lots of plans for different preserves.
We are going to arrange another collection by the City Council in order to get rid of the old cooker, the old microwave and the old tumble dryer. We will have to organise another collection once the shed is sorted and before I can order a new freezer. (Not that the weather has been very clever to clear it in) which is also causing its own issues. In many circumstances we are having to wait on other things to get things thoroughly done and dusted.
As I was so cold today, I set about cooking a full meal. (At this time of year we always have hot meals it is just that they vary quite a bit). I opted for Sausage Toad in the hole served simply with creamy mashed potato, Spring greens which have been shredded and then dressed with a little butter, which both adds to the taste and gives the cabbage a light glaze. Most of my veggies are nearly always steamed. They were then topped with a lovely onion gravy. It went down very well indeed. I know most of you will know how to make this but this is how I make it.
I always add chopped onion to the bottom of my pan and today as I had it I used some fresh thyme leaves as well and a little bit of lard to melt and coat the onions so that they do not stick to the pan. I then add the sausages then pop them into the oven to get them going. (I used a deep sided pan to cook them in). To start with I had the temperature at about 180 degrees C.
In the interim I made the batter to my standard recipe of just chuck it in until it looks right (flour) and then add eggs and milk and whisk up until the consistency is that of thick cream. If it is too thick you can add extra milk or water to thin it slightly. Equally you can add extra if you need it. That is why I use a hand whisk as it helps amalgamate the ingredients equally and get a lot of air into the mixture. I then turn the temperature up on the oven to 200 degrees C as I want the mixture to rise as much as possible. We tend to like in a Toad a denser batter in a toad as it helps soak up all the gravy.
Just before I add the batter to the pan I add a dash of malt or white wine vinegar to the mixture. This helps with the rise. You need a nice hot pan for the batter to go into. If the pan is hot enough after you have added the batter, it will wrinkle round the edges, as you will see in the first photo below. Do not open the oven whilst the batter mixture is cooking as it will sink the pudding. It will take approximately 45 minutes to cook. At the same time I put the Toad in the cooker I put th veggies on in my steamer. Today we had steamed potatoes and steamed Spring greens which had been shredded.
Once the potatoes are cooked and near the end of the cooking time of the Toad, I check the potatoes. If they are cooked, they are tipped out into a bowl with some butter and milk and mashed either with a hand masher or a Potato Ricer. If they are not quite cooked put them on for a little longer.
I hope you'll be warm as toast in your new coat. Toad in the Hole - haven't made that in years! Looks tasty.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason the news of the latest lockdown has really knocked me for six; I'm a social person who likes to get up and go places on a whim, and too much isolation is not good for me. Still, there's nothing I can do...
ReplyDelete... except drool over your toad in the hole, which looks absolutely magnificent. I used to make it for my father who always enjoyed a double-carb meal (triple if you count his favourite accompaniment, mushy peas) but haven't made it for six or seven years. Maybe I'll revisit it with some very herby veggie sausages I've got in the freezer. They're a bit too full on stuffing-flavoured on their own but in a toad they'd stand up to and flavour the pudding mix rather well I think. First I have to clear more of the Christmas/Twixmas leftover.
Despite my very best intentions I wound up buying much too much 'favourite' food, which often went with nothing else I'd bought. I also stashed it then forgot about a lot of it. Next year, against all my 'be prepared' principles, I'm going to do one massive shop on the 23rd or 24th of December and that way I'll only buy food I can make meals out of for the following fortnight. I've still got the christmas pud, a large panettone, dates, speck, smoked salmon, truffles, Indian snacks, 5 cabbages, a swede, a bag of carrots, 2 bags of parnips and 2 aubergines to deal with. The veg isn't an issue, I deliberately bought things that would keep a long time in my cold utility room in case fresh veg became scarce due to port problems, but as for the rest, I predict I'll be eating plum pudding in June!