Toad in the Hole

Our talented home economists love making the ordinary extraordinary. Here, the classic Toad in the Hole has had a Miele twist using wild boar sausages, crystallised fennel and honey glazed figs! Cooking the dish in the attractive STAUB cast iron pan allows you to serve straight from the oven to table.

Method

1. For the crystallised fennel, in a small saucepan, add the sugar and water and bring to a boil over a medium to high heat on a Miele Induction Hob. Leave the mixture to bubble away until golden and syrupy in texture, this will take 2-3 minutes.

2. Reduce the heat to low/medium and add in the fennel seeds. Stir until the mixture crystallises. Once cooled, transfer to a pestle and mortar and grind down to a powder. Set aside for later use.

3. Into a chilled bowl, grind the wild boar loin and pork fat using a meat grinder on its 5mm grinder plate.

4. Sprinkle in the breadcrumbs, garlic, thyme, crystallised fennel seed powder, ground ginger, coriander seeds, salt and pink peppercorns into the ground meat mixture and mix, until well incorporated. Leave to rest in the fridge for 2 hours.

5. Attach the sausage funnel to the meat grinder and slip the end of the sausage casing over the attachment and pull the casing down the shaft so that it is bunched up at the base. This is so that you are able to make a good amount of sausages without having to stop and add more casing.

6. Tie the end of the casing into a knot, push the sausage filling through the grinder on the slow setting, and gently support the sausage as it is piped into the casing. Continue to do this until roughly one meter of sausage in length has been reached. Remove from the machine. You will need to leave some extra casing to tie off with a knot at the end.

7. Twist the long sausage into eight sausages, measuring around 12cm each in length.

8. Preheat a Miele Steam Combination Oven to Fan Plus, 200⁰C.

9. Pour the vegetable oil into a circular skillet (we used a brilliant STAUB cast-iron pan), then place the sausage into the pan in a spiral. Arrange the halved fig and shallots around the outside of the sausage and drizzle with honey and thyme, then place into oven and cook for 15 minutes.

10. While the sausage is cooking, prepare the Yorkshire pudding mixture by mixing the milk, egg, flour, salt and water together until smooth in a jug. It should have the consistency of single cream.

11. After 15 minutes, remove the skillet from the oven and carefully pour the Yorkshire pudding batter around the sausage and figs, ensuring it reaches the centre of the skillet.

12. Quickly place back into the steam combination oven and set to the following:

• 1st stage: Combination Mode, Fan Plus, 210°C, 50% moisture for 15 minutes.

• 2nd stage: Fan Plus, 210°C, 0% moisture for 10 minutes.

13. While the Toad in the Hole is cooking, prepare the gravy by placing the butter and chopped fig into a frying pan and fry off for 5 minutes until soft. Once soft, add the red wine and reduce by half. Transfer to a jug for serving.

14. Add the veal stock and fig chutney to a jug, then pour into the frying pan along with the wine and figs. Allow to simmer on a medium to high heat until reduced by half and thickened.

15. When the toad in the hole is ready, remove from the oven and serve in the skillet along with the gravy.