Toad in the Hole

Today I'm making 'Toad in the Hole'.  Can you possibly think of a more off-putting name for a recipe? Where did it even come from?  I don't want to eat a dish where the first think you assume is that you are eating amphibian.  Especially a warty ol'toad that was living in a hole somewhere.  Ick yuck!

For the longest time I thought the dish where you would cut a hole out of a piece of toast and fry it in a pan with an egg was called Toad in the Hole.  It turns out that is called Egg in a Hole, Egg in a Basket, or Egg in a Nest.  All of which are much more appealing.

Hmmm... I just looked up Toad in the Hole on Wikipedia.  I must not be the only confused person because this is the first thing Wikipedia tells me: "This article is about the sausage dish. For the egg and toast dish, see Egg in the basket."

It's scary how well Wikipedia knows me.

So, Toad in the Hole eh?  What the heck?  The same article tells me that it might be named this because it looks like a toad sticking it's head out of a hole.  Really?  Well I can't dispute it since I've never seen a toad sticking it's head out of a hole.  Again - ick - so unappealing.

I just had a huge a-ha moment.  Wikipedia also tells me it supposed to be sausages in a yorkshire pudding batter!  A-ha!  That's where the batter comes from!  Also that it's supposed to be served with gravy and vegetables.  That would have made all the difference!

Well... on with the recipe!

I feel like at least one of the recipes on this page must be well used judging from the state of the book at this point.

This looks like a pretty easy recipe made from things that I usually have around the house.  The only thing I needed to buy were the sausages.  This is also a very inexpensive dish.  Nothing fancy going on here as you can see from the ingredients.  

I was vacillating at the store between using italian sausages and breakfast sausages as it seemed like a rather breakfasty dish.  I was expecting it would be like sausages cooked into a big pancake.

I looked at the first line of the recipe and put everything except the sausages into my blender to blend.  I did have a good giggle about not sticking your spatula into the blender while it's on.  I like how cookie recipes in grandma's cookbook won't give temperatures because they assume you know but it tells you not to blend a spatula.

Yeeeeeah.  This is when I found out that my blender I received as a gift 7 years ago no longer works.  Just doesn't even turn on.  

So now I need to get as much of that lumpy mess out of there as I can.  I guess I'll try to use my Magic Bullet blender.  I was worried it wouldn't all fit in there.

Scrape, scrape, Scrape.

Hey it all fits.  Excellent.  I should have just used this to start with.  I'm not much of a gadget gal but I do like the Magic Bullet!

 And it all blended up quite well.

As you can see the batter ends up being quite thin and runny.  Not at all like pancake batter.

The next part of the recipe tells you to put your sausages in a 12' oval pan.  I don't have one of those so I used a baking dish.  I pricked them all over and put them in the oven.

I knew there was no way at 250 degrees that these sausages were going to brown in five minutes.  

And they didn't.  It took closer to 20 minutes and I think I cranked up the temperature.  I think perhaps the temperature was wrong in the recipe.

This is what it looked like just before I added the batter.  I guess grandma must have used fattier sausages because I didn't drain any of the fat.  

This is the final dish when I took it out - and I baked it for longer than the recipe stated.

I guess it wasn't bad.  It was REALLY hard to get out of the pan so there is no nice picture of it served up.  I was disappointed by the batter.  I was either expecting it to be like a pancake or perhaps a corn dog.  I found it to be quite bland.  Also I'm not the biggest fan of sausages so that didn't help.

Seeing just now that it is supposed to be like Yorkshire pudding I can picture it being quite nice served with gravy and roasted veggies.

Knowing this, I would try this again by doing the following to make it act like Yorkshire pudding.  I would put some oil (not olive oil) in the baking dish and put it in the oven while it heated to the hottest you can get it - 475 degrees perhaps.  I would then put the sausages in and cook them at that high temp for five minutes or until browned and not dump out any fat.  I would then pull the pan out, pour the batter in, put it back in the oven and then lower the temp to 350 to cook.  Yorkshire pudding puffs because of the screaming hot pan and oil and I think that mistake in temperature in the cookbook made all the difference.

Note - I haven't tried any of these modifications - just my thoughts.  I would also make gravy and vegetables to have with it!

Here is the recipe as written in my grandma's cookbook:

Toad-in-the-Hole

1 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 lb pork sausage (small)

Combine flour, eggs, milk, water, salt and pepper in the blender and blend at high speed until thoroughly mixed, scrape down sides with machine off.  If using whisk or rotary or electric beater beat eggs and salt until foamy first, then slowly add flour, milk, and water and beat until smooth and creamy.  Refrigerate batter for 1 hour.

Place sausages in 12" baking dish (oval).  Prick sausages with a fork and bake in 250 degree oven [this has to be wrong - it must be 450 degree] until they begin to brown (about five minutes).  Remove from oven and pour off fat leaving no more than 4 tablespoons in the dish.  Arrange sausages 1" apart and pour batter over.  Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes until it has risen above sides of pan and is crisp and brown.  Serves 4.

Apple Slice

Now here is a conundrum… I want to keep writing this blog but I’ve been trying to cut out sugar as well as pasta, bread, rice, etc. This is problematic as grandma’s recipes can be pretty much divided into two categories: yummy desserts and carb-laden casseroles.

I decided today to bake a dessert and then give it away. Whether to neighbours, family or workmates – I’m sure someone will take it off my hands.

I’m making the very first recipe in the ‘bars and squares’ cookbook which also happens to be labeled as ‘good’.



It looks super easy and looking through the only thing I need to pick up at the grocery store is some more butter (as I’m getting low) and a can of apple pie filling. 

When I was at the store I realized that a can of apple pie filling was about $4!!! Side note: I’m kinda cheap. I know I could just buy apples and make filling for less than this… but I want to follow the recipe exactly. 

Here are my ingredients. They look pretty non-scary as far as these recipes go. You can see that I cheaped out and went for the no-name brand of pie filling.

I grease up my pan (I’ve started to realize this is a key to success with these recipes). The only problem is that these are bars that are supposed to be made in a square pan but all of mine are at my sister’s place. I took them over when I was baking my niece’s castle shaped 3rd birthday cake (which was hi-lar-i-ous-ly bad by the way – you have to let go of perfectionism when you cake decorate with a 3-year-old). Ah well… pie plate it is.

It’s a pretty easy dough as I just throw butter, sugar and an egg in the mixer and give it a whirl (or ‘cream’ it if we are being fancy).

By the way can I tell you how much I love that the recipe tells you to mix it in your ‘mixmaster’! I should start calling my mixer that!

Slowly mix in the dry ingredients and voila – crust!

I squish a little less than half in to make the bottom crust.

Then I dump on the magic ingredient (shhhh... the secret ingredient is pie filling).

At this point I’m ready to roll out the top crust. The recipe says to do it on waxed paper but I don’t have that. I do however have a silicon mat and I figure that should work.

I know I should roll it but… well… my ex-husband got the rolling pin in the divorce. I’m not even kidding about that actually. I need to buy a new one but… did I mention I’m cheap and wine bottles do a pretty good job?

And now I just elegantly move this onto the top of the pan…

Oh crap. Well. Let’s call that rustic. Hey… I get to sprinkle icing sugar on top. That should cover all sins right.

Hmmm… not exactly the beautiful look I was planning but I’ll just keep soldiering ahead.

Into the oven it goes until it comes out browned and nummy smelling. I tried to take a slice out for a picture but it was just kind of falling apart. I could tell the bottom crust was pretty soggy and if I made it again I would probably blind bake that crust a bit first.

After this cooled I called my sister who happened to have her mother and father-in-law visiting from out of town. I asked if she wanted this dessert and she said they would probably really appreciate it – especially since she fed them brown rice and tofu for dinner!

I took the apple slice over and asked for their feedback for all of you folks. When I spoke with my sister a couple days later she said that the in-laws took their job very seriously. They said that it was a bit sweet for their tastes and that the bottom crust was a bit soggy (which I knew).

I did sneak a small spoonful and you know… it was very yummy for such a quick and easy dessert. Just maybe use the waxed paper!

Butter Tart Squares

This recipe has all the hallmarks of a winner.  Grandma’s desserts are where she seems to shine and her cookies, bars and squares seem especially good.  Now consider that they are also based on butter tarts – the quintessential Canadian dessert… and well… I’m hoping for a winner.

This recipe is from one of the new handwritten cookbooks I recently received from my mom and dad. 

This book is nothing but bars and squares and like the last one is filled with both written recipes and clippings from papers and magazines.

I’ve chosen to make one of the recipes on a little handwritten square of paper tucked in the front of the book.

I apologize that these pictures are fuzzy.  I’m taking these pics on my iphone (hoping for a good real camera soon but that isn’t in the cards for now). 

The recipe is a very basic crust and then the filling is just mixed together and poured in.  It seems pretty straightforward.

Yes, very straightforward.  Here are my ingredients and… wait… dammit!  How do I not have oatmeal?  I thought I had about three bags of oatmeal!  Really?  None?  Not in any cupboards?

Sigh.

I guess for me oatmeal is the opposite of pickles.  I thought I had a lot of oatmeal when I was shopping earlier so I didn’t buy any.  Whenever I’m at the store and see pickles I think I need them and I have about four jars in my fridge.

But hey… look at all this Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup for sale!  I should stock up for the casseroles!

Back at home.  With ALL the ingredients.  I’ve never been a big fan of butter tarts because I don’t like raisins cooked into baked goods.  So for my buttertart squares I’m using only chopped walnuts.

The crust is just ½ cup butter (I subbed butter for the margarine in the recipe) mixed with a cup of flour and two tbsp. of brown sugar.  The crust isn’t as sweet as I expected it would be.

I pressed it into my well greased pan and baked it for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

It came out just a little darker.

In the meantime I had mixed together the eggs, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, oatmeal and chopped walnuts.  Look at how ooey and good that looks.

It just pours into the pan.  Then it is popped in the oven for 20 more minutes. 

While that cooks let me give you a little reason why butter tarts make Canadians so happy.  This is from the Wikipedia entry for butter tarts: “A butter tart is a type of small pastry tart highly regarded in Canadian cuisine and considered one of Canada's quintessential desserts. The tart consists of butter, sugar, syrup, and egg filled into a flaky pastry and baked until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top” and, “butter tarts were common in pioneer Canadian cooking, and they remain a characteristic pastry of Canada, considered one of only a few recipes of genuinely Canadian origin.”

So hum O Canada to yourself while eating butter tarts. 

When it comes out it is so tempting to try to cut it right away but it really does need to cool.  The filling is pretty soft when cooled so it is really runny when warm.

Here they are when cut into squares.

Take a clooooose look.  My god.  These are extremely addictive!  They are very sweet and rich but sooooo good.  I am now a butter tart convert thanks to Grandma G.  I am a convert for these squares. They are so easy and so good!  I highly recommend making a batch and feeling like a proud Canadian.

Canadian-Style Goulash

Let me start by saying that I would really appreciate it if you could help me figure out why this dish is ‘Canadian-Style’. Being a Canadian… well I don’t see any cheese curds and gravy… or peameal bacon (or as American’s call it ‘Canadian bacon’).

This recipe is from a new cookbook. When I last visited home my mom gave me the rest of my Grandma G’s handwritten cookbooks as well as three printed cookbooks that were hers. All three printed books are collections of recipes and this is the one I am cooking from today.

As you can see this book is a collection of recipes for casseroles from the ladies of Beta Sigma Phi (oooh… are these secret sorority recipes?). Just look at the inspirational cover casserole! Those are surely canned mushrooms. I also learned the secret ingredient in the cover recipe is a can of Chef Boy-ar-dee Ravioli.

You may not be able to see that the cover boasts 1,000 casserole recipes. I can tell you that if they edited out all the ones that contained some kind of canned soup – the number would probably drop to about 150.

I decided to make the ‘Canadian-Style Goulash’. I chose this recipe for the following reasons: 1) Grandma had put a check next to it so I gather she made it at some point; 2) there was no canned soup in it; 3) I’m attempting to eat less meat and I can sub the ground beef for tvp; and 4) I need cheap lunches for the week and this would seem to do the trick.

The assembled ingredients are pretty straightforward. The recipe calls for margarine but I have chosen to use butter instead. I’m also using that bag of tvp (textured vegetable protein) instead of ground beef and I’m going to use some fresh garlic instead of the optional pinch of garlic salt.

As I have everything cooking up you can see my biggest casserole dish in the background, then my pot of boiling water for the pasta and then the tvp cooking with the chopped veggies and grated cheese in the foreground.

The most interesting thing about the recipe for you, the reader, may be the prep of the tvp. I decided to use the recipe here.

I doubled the recipe and in the picture above it is simmering with water and three tbsp. of soy sauce. After all the water was absorbed I put in some olive oil, a splash of worcestershire sauce, a few drops of liquid smoke and some oregano and cumin. I think it looks pretty close to ground beef in the end and had a nice flavour. Also this amount of tvp cost about $0.60 at my bulk store.

When the pasta was done I mixed it with half the grated sharp cheddar cheese.

I then added the tvp mixture, a can of crushed tomatoes, and I can of tomato paste. I also added the chopped onion, green pepper and garlic that I had sautéed for five minutes in some butter and olive oil. The recipe called for a half cup each of the green pepper and onion but I just used the whole pepper and whole onion as well as three cloves of garlic.

Here it is with the cheese sprinkled on top ready for the oven for… what the hell! TWO HOURS!

Everything in this is cooked already… why does it need to...? Oh okay. Two hours. I guess the ‘flavours merge’ during that time or something. It’s a good thing I started this a long time before dinner!

While this cooks I’m curious why this is called a goulash. What is a goulash?

Let’s compare what I’m making to the Wikipedia definition: Goulash (Hungarian: gulyás) is a soup or stew [not really] of meat [okay], noodles [yes] and vegetables [a few] (especially potato [nope]), seasoned with paprika [definitely not] and other spices [garlic salt?].
So we seem to have a loose interpretation of a ‘goulash’ and I still don’t know what makes it ‘Canadian-style’.

Well it did smell good while cooking. I should mention that I added pepper but with all the soy sauce I put in the tvp I didn’t add any other salt to the dish.

Coming out of the oven… it looks like it could feed a crowd.

This is a dish that is hard to make look pretty!

You know what? It tasted pretty good. It tasted exactly as you might expect. Kind of like lasagna made with more of a pizza sauce (probably because of the tomato paste). I enjoyed it and I think it will do well for lunches for work. It was also very inexpensive to make. My favourite part about this recipe was learning how to use the tvp. With all the ground beef recipes that I have in these cookbooks I think I just found a way to make them a touch healthier.