The Best Gluten Free Toad In The Hole

Comfort food at its best!

My butcher makes award winning sausages and I like his French Toulouse sausages for this, made with garlic and pepper, the main thing is to get a pure pork sausage with no fillers and nasties!

If your sausages are smaller you may need to cut the prosciutto in half or have a few more slices.

As rich as this is, I serve it with some steamed veggies, that’s really all that you need.

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

400g speck or streaky bacon, rind removed, cut into 0.5-1cm chunks

1 onion, chopped into wedges

1kg pure pork sausages, 6 large sausages

6 slices prosciutto

150g gluten free plain flour

2 eggs

250mls milk

100mls water

salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 210 degrees Centigrade.

Line the base and sides of the tin so that the pudding can’t escape into the pan.

Add the chopped speck or bacon to the pan with the onion and pop into the oven for 20mins.

Wrap a slice of prosciutto around each sausage and add to the pan, bake for 15mins.

Measure the flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre, crack the eggs in to the centre of the well and begin to whisk gently. As it thickens, pour and whisk the milk and flour in. Season well.

Once the sausage has baked for 15 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and very carefully pour the batter into the pan, going around each sausage.

Return the roasting tin to the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes until the pudding has risen and is golden.

The pudding will deflate a little once you take it out of the oven.

 

Beef Bourguignon

This is a great meal to pop in the oven in the afternoon and have a delicious dinner come evening.

I always use 2kgs of meat to allow for lots of leftovers, this stew makes an absolutely brilliant pie filling and the boys love a pie!

As I make this gluten free I don’t flour the meat before browning it, instead I thicken with cornflour towards the end. Double check your cornflour if you are cooking for a coeliac, one popular brand here in Australia is made from wheat!!!

Serves 8 and gives leftovers for 14-16 pies, see below.

Ingredients

100mls olive oil

2kgs diced beef, I use blade

300g pancetta, diced

500g mushrooms, halved or quartered

14 large shallots, peeled and broken into bulbs

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced

150g tomato paste

750mls red wine

400mls beef stock

bouquet garni, thyme, parsley and rosemary tied with cooking twine

Salt and pepper

6 tablespoons cornflour

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Centigrade.

In a large oven proof  pan, I use a 6l casserole,  heat the oil over a high heat.

Once the oil is hot, brown the meat in batches, set aside in a large bowl.

Once the beef is all browned and removed add the pancetta and cook until crispy and releasing its fat.

Remove to the bowl with the beef.

Now throw the whole shallots in and brown over a high heat.

Remove and add to the beef bowl.

Lastly throw the mushrooms and garlic into the pan and brown a little.

Return the beef, pancetta and shallots to the pan.

Add the wine, stock, tomato paste and bouquet garni. I tie one end of the bouquet garni string to the pan handle, makes it so much easier to fish it out later!

Season with salt and pepper.

Cover the top of the pan with a piece of baking parchment and top with a lid.

Place the pan in the oven and cook for 4-5 hours.

By this point the meat should be very tender.

In a jug, combine the cornflour and a little water to make a cream like mixture.

Remove the casserole for the oven, while stirring, pour in the cornflour mixture mix until the meat sauce thickens.

Check seasoning and remove bouquet garni.

Serve with spinach or buttered cabbage and potatoes.

Leftovers

Left over delights

This casserole is fabulous  in a pie, cook a  few extra potatoes when making this meal, cut them up and add them to the meat mixture.

Take pastry sheets, cut to shape, line pie cases, fill, brush edges with beaten egg, top with pastry, seal edges with a fork, trim excess pastry, brush with egg and cut a slit in the lid to allow steam to escape.

At this point I freeze most of the pies and keep a few out for dinner.