Toad in the Hole : Lower Carb Recipe

I have fond memories of eating my dear Mum's lovely Toad in the Hole, it was a real family favourite, and we often enjoyed it for Saturday lunch!

If you are interested in food and it's History let me tell you, that the original 'hole' dish was created no earlier than the first half of the 18th Century, when batter puddings first became popular. The earliest 'in the hole' dishes make no reference to toads or frogs! In a 1747 book The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse there is a recipe for 'Pigeon in the hole' ... then in a diary entry of Thomas Turner in 1757 he mentions a dinner of 'sausages baked in a batter pudding'. It wasn't until 1787 that the first recorded Toad in the Hole was mentioned in the Oxford English Dictionary!

As time went by however, toad in the hole hopped its way into the museum of Treasured British Dishes, enjoyed by all classes, and celebrated as a national dish. Food shortages during and after the war meant that for a while you were more likely to find a toad made of spam than sausage-meat, but eventually the trusty banger (sausage) emerged as the go-to star of the dish.
These days, old toady is even good enough for the royal baby's Auntie, Pippa Middleton, who featured it in her tome Celebrate. Though, admittedly, she does add Parma ham.

I am so pleased to be able to share this lower carb version of the recipe, it uses a mix of almond flour and coconut flour.

Ingredients:

Serves Four
75g coconut oil
olive oil
8 strips of streaky bacon

8 pork or chicken sausages (lowest carb variety)

375ml milk

80ml buttermilk

4 eggs

5ml Dijon mustard

3/4 cup almond flour

1 cup coconut four

2.5ml fine salt

250ml sour cream, to serve

watercress / green salad, to serve

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C  400°F  Gas Mark 6

2. Heat a pan over medium heat and add a splash of olive oil. Wrap a piece of bacon around each sausage and fry it for 2-3 minutes each until browned all over.

3. Add the coconut oil to a large baking dish and place it in the oven for 10 minutes until warm and melted. Whisk the rest of the ingredients together and carefully pour it into the warm oven dish with the coconut oil. Place the sausages on top. Lightly push them into the batter to submerge slightly. Bake for 15 minutes.

4. Reduce the oven’s temperature to 180°C and continue cooking the dish for another 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Serve each portion with a dollop of sour cream and some watercress /green salad on the side.

Tip:
Serve it with a smooth onion gravy that can be made by gently sautéing 1 large onion (200g) in 30ml butter and 5ml xylitol granules over a very low heat for 30 minutes until soft and caramelized. Add 2 cups of beef stock. Allow it to bubble away over medium heat for 10 minutes. Purée it until fine and season it to taste.

For help with measurement conversion please see here 

From an original recipe idea here

You can read more about the history of Toad in the Hole here

Enjoy your weekend.

All the best Jan