Homemade Dinner 16-17/09/13 Toad in the Hole & Fish Pie

I decided to cook twice this particular week as I enjoy it so much! I got my Toad in the Hole recipe from a Jamie Oliver's recipe. 

Toad in the Hole:

Ingredients:

Sausages

Eggs

Plain Flour

Milk

Potatoes

Red Onion

Peas

Beef Stock

Thyme

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Salt

I firstly part cooked some sausages in a frying pan until slightly golden, I then put the oven on ready.

Then I needed to make the batter, I cracked 2 large eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt, whisk the eggs and then add 80g of plain flour and keep whisking until smooth.

I then added milk bit by bit, whisking it each time before adding more. You have to add 190ml in total-once smooth put aside.

Then I got a baking tray and filled it with oil and put back in the oven to make the oil hot.

I then prepared the mash by peeling some potatoes, cutting them into cubes and placing in a large saucepan with water until boiled-with a pinch of salt and place on a high heat for around 10-15 minutes. Until they are soft and ready to mash.

I then prepared the onion gravy by peeling and finely slicing the red onion, adding to a medium saucepan with some thyme and olive oil, then cover the pan with a lid and place on a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally

I then got the VERY hot tray out of the oven, placed the sausages in it rolling them around in the oil slightly and then poured the batter over the top carefully, and put the tray back in the oven. It needs to cook for around 20 minutes until golden brown.

I then mashed the potatoes adding milk and butter until smooth, left them aside ready to re-heat before serving

I then turned up the heat on the onions, adding some flour, 1/2 tsp of balsamic vinegar and 250ml of beef stock, bringing all of that to the boil

I then filled a saucepan with some boiling water, adding pears and cooked for 3 minutes. Drain the peas, heat up the mash and serve! 

I was very proud of the finished product, I was scared the toad in the hole might stick to the tray and luckily it didn't! It all came out in one go. It was a yummy meal and my dad was very impressed!

The fish pie was from The Hairy Biker's recipe. 

Ingredients:

For the topping:

Potatoes

Salt

Butter

Cheese

For the broth:

Fish Stock

Onion

Carrot

Bay Leaf

For the fish:

Smoked Haddock

Salmon

Prawns

Cod

For the parsley sauce:

Butter

Plain Flour

Milk

Parsley

Cream

Salt & Pepper

Boiled eggs-optional 

I've never attempted anything as complicated as Fish Pie yet so this was a challenge! 

Firstly I peeled and cut some potatoes and boiled in a large pan of salted water for around 15 minutes until soft, I then drained the potatoes and mashed adding butter and salt and pepper to taste-I left them to one side ready for later

I then added fish stock, onion, carrot and a bay leaf to a pan and bought this to the boil, reducing the heat and simmer for around 5 minutes

I then prepared the fish by skinning it all and cutting them up into small chunks and placed them into the broth and poach for around 3 minutes, using a spoon I then removed the fish from the pan and set aside in a bowl.

I then poured the broth through a sieve into a separate bowl, throwing away the vegetables and herbs, I then bought the broth back to the boil and simmer until reduced by about half 

For the parsley sauce I heated up the butter and flour together in a pan over a low heat, careful not to burn it and stirred until a paste

I then added the reduced broth, a spoonful at a time and kept whisking until smooth, added the milk and parsley and bought back to the boil, reduced the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes

Preheat the oven to 180C

Finishing the sauce, I added double cream to the pan and seasoned 

Then I hard boiled 2 eggs in a separate pan

To assemble the pie-butter a dish and flake the fish discarding any skin or bones. First lay the fish at the bottom of the dish, pour half the sauce on top (keeping the other half aside for a pouring sauce when the pie is finished), slice the hard boiled eggs and lay ontop of the sauce, cover with the mash potato and add cheese on top.

Cooked for around 20-25 minutes and serve with the extra sauce and peas.

This also turned out very good, it was incredibly tasty and I did very well for quite a complicated dish. YUM!