Vegetarian Toad in the Hole with Onion Gravy

Ingredients

• 6 Cauldron Lincolnshire Sausages
• A glug of rapeseed oil
• Sprinkle of rosemary
• Sprinkle of thyme
• 1 shallot – roughly chopped
• 170g plain flour
• 3 large free range eggs
• 220ml milk
• Pinch of salt
For the Onion Gravy
• 2 shallots – roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons of plain flour
• 200ml of vegetable stock
• 20ml port

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius / 428 degrees Fahrenheit / Gas mark 7.
2. Put the sausages in a casserole dish with 1 chopped shallot and the rapeseed oil, and sprinkle with the rosemary and thyme. Then put the casserole dish in the oven and roast for 10 minutes.
3. Whilst your sausages are roasting, you need to make your batter. Firstly add your flour and salt to a large bowl, and then beat in your eggs and milk, until the batter is smooth, with absolutely no lumps.
4. Take your sausages out of the oven and pour in your batter, making sure there is space between each of the sausages. Then put the casserole dish back in the oven and leave for 35-40 minutes, or until the batter is puffed and golden brown.
5. Whilst the toad in the hole is cooking, you need to get your shallot gravy started, so put a saucepan on a medium heat and add in a glug of rapeseed oil. Add in the 2 shallots and leave to cook for 10 minutes until they start to brown, making sure you are stirring regularly, so that they don’t stick to the pan.
6. Once your shallots have browned, add in a tablespoon of plain flour and stir until your shallot mixture is very dry. Then add in your vegetable stock slowly, stirring regularly, followed by the port. Bring your gravy to the boil and leave for 10 minutes to thicken.
7. If you like your gravy extra-thick, you can remove half a glass of the gravy and 2 tablespoons of flour to it, mixing it well so that it doesn’t become lumpy. Then add the half glass of gravy to the saucepan and leave for another 5 minutes, before taking it off the heat and pouring it carefully into a gravy boat.