Toad-in-the-Hole - South African style!

We're onto week 3 of the Freshly Blogged challenge already! I'm having so much fun creating these recipes and I hope you'll give them a try too. The theme for this challenge was "S.A's best" and the ingredients list read something like this: Drosty-Hof Pinotage (or any Drosty-Hof red wine), mielie meal, ostrich sausage, waterblommetjies or green beans, chutney and mixed dried fruit. As usual we were allowed to omit one of these ingredients and this time around we were able to include 3 fresh ingredients and 3 spices.

There was something else in the fine print too... part of the dish had to be cooked over the coals. The minute I finished reading the challenge details my head started buzzing with ideas, and before I knew it I had a whole page of thoughts and scribblings for potential dishes. This is what I love about this competition - I have been so inspired to get creative in a completely different way. My notebook is brimming with ideas for future recipes and blog posts!

Back to the recipe at hand though. My dish is a South African take on the British classic - toad-in-the-hole. It's made with ostrich sausage and mielie meal and all the cooking is done on the braai. Can you get any more South African than that? I've paired the dish with a rich and velvety gravy made with red onions and Drosty-Hof Claret (not forgetting some good old S.A. chutney). This is accompanied by a fresh, minted green bean salad (a truly delicious way to enjoy your greens). Casual, colourful, full of flavour and proudly South African! 

Two things to note: Toad-in-the-hole is best served immediately. The gravy, however, can be made ahead of time and reheated when it's time to dish up. 

As usual I would be so grateful if you could take a few seconds to VOTE for this recipe on the Freshly Blogged site. Remember there are prizes up for grabs! 

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TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE with RED ONION GRAVY & GREEN BEAN SALAD

Serves 4

For the gravy:

1 tablespoon butter
2 red onions, sliced
2 tablespoons plain flour
125ml Drosty-Hof Claret (or other red wine)
3 tablespoons chutney
375ml beef stock
salt and pepper

For the toad-in-the-hole:

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup mielie meal
pinch of salt
3 large eggs
250ml milk
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
500g ostrich sausage

For the green bean salad:

200g green beans
pinch of salt
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil 
small handful fresh mint, roughly chopped
black pepper

To make the gravy:

Step 1.) Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the sliced red onions and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes until soft, stirring regularly. 

Step 2.) Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook for a further minute. 

Step 3.) Add the red wine, chutney and beef stock and stir well. Leave the gravy to simmer for 8-10 minutes until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. 

To make the toad-in-the-hole:

Step 1.) Sift the flour, mielie meal  and a good pinch of salt into a bowl. Whisk the eggs and milk together in a jug. Gradually pour this into the dry ingredients whisking between each addition. Continue to whisk until you have a smooth batter, then set this aside. 

Step 2.) Pour the sunflower oil into a 20cm fireproof pot. Arrange the sausages in a single layer on the bottom of the pot. Cover and place on a grid over the very hot coals and allow to brown for 10 minutes. 

Step 3.) Drain most of the excess fat from the pot (you can leave a little behind). Cut the sausage into 7cm pieces. 

Step 4.) Pour the batter over the sausages. Cover the pot and place in the hot coals for 5 minutes until the batter has set around the edges of the pot and is starting to set in the middle.

Step 5.) Move the pot to a grid placed over the coals. Continue cooking until the batter has risen and cooked through. (Cooking times will vary but mine took about 20 minutes to cook.)  

To make the the green bean salad:
(you can do this while the "toad" is cooking)

Step 1.) Top and tail the green beans and halve each one. 

Step 2.) Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add the green beans and boil for 6 minutes. (They should be tender but still have some bite.)

Step 3.) Combine the garlic, olive oil and mint in a bowl. Drain the beans, then toss everything together with a good grinding of black pepper. Serve immediately.