Toad in the Hole with Onion Gravy

Ingredients

• 6 pork sausages
• 1 cup flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 tbsp neutral oil or drippings
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1½ cups beef stock
• 1 tbsp flour (for the gravy)
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Method

1. Whisk 1 cup flour, eggs, milk, and salt into a smooth batter and rest it at room temperature at least 30 minutes — a rested batter is what makes it climb the pan.
2. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Brown the sausages in oil in a metal baking dish or ovenproof skillet on the stovetop, about 5 minutes, leaving the fat in the pan.
3. Get the pan screaming hot in the oven for 5 minutes, then pour the batter around the sausages — it must sizzle on contact. Bake 25–28 minutes without opening the door until towering and burnished.
4. Meanwhile cook the onions in butter with sugar over medium-low until deeply caramelized, 15–20 minutes. Dust with flour, stir 1 minute, then whisk in stock and mustard and simmer to a glossy gravy.
5. Serve straight from the pan, gravy flooding the craters, before the puff has time to sigh.