Toad in the Hole without the Toad

This is a vegetarian version of Toad in the Hole and a great standby recipe if you have lots of people coming over or want to use up the garden produce from your kitchen garden. You can use almost any vegetables - the more colours you are using the more attractive the dish looks. You can do the same with apples as a dessert version, add a bit of cinnamon then. I like the batter to be soft but it is up to you how browned you like this. I served this dish at the last Kitchen Garden Workshop I was hosting @ The Cottage with Kitty Scully and it went down a treat - not a crumb was left over. Fresh salad with a light dressing is the perfect partner for these slices.

• Mixed vegetables, like peppers, onions, courgettes, mushrooms - sliced or chopped (big chunks)
• 1 egg
• 100g plain flour
• 180 - 200ml milk
• 1-2 tbsp Thyme, leaves
• 1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• salt & pepper
• 5 tbsp Sunflower Oil

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Prepare the vegetables - slice the courgettes in 4mm slices, half the mushrooms if they are big otherwise keep them whole, remove the seeds from the peppers and cut into large strips, peel the onions and cut into large chunks. Place the vegetables into a roasting tin with the sunflower oil and toss the vegetables so that they are nicely coated with the oil. Roast for about 15 mins, turning once. In the meantime, combine the egg, flour and milk and whisk until smooth and has the consistency of thick cream. Add the herbs and stir through and season to taste. Remove the roasting tin from the oven -  make sure that the oil is really hot, pour over the batter and return immediately to the oven. Bake for about 30 - 40 mins until the batter has puffed up and is baked through. Sprinkle some fresh herbs over, cut into nice handy slices and enjoy. This is also handy for lunchboxes as it tastes also great at room temperature.

Mr T. called this Elkelicious :-)