Toad in the Hole

Toad in the Hole contains 1 distinct plant — the one named above. Sundew counts every distinct plant on your plate, so this dish adds 1 toward your weekly plant variety.

Sausages baked into a batter of flour, egg and milk, usually with onion and gravy. Only the onion counts toward plant variety: the batter is a refined grain, which counts as zero plants; sausage, egg and milk aren't plants; and gravy is excluded. That's what takes this dish to 1 plant toward your weekly 30.

Toad in the Hole is a traditional English dish of sausages baked into a Yorkshire-pudding batter until the batter puffs up golden around them. It's usually served with onion gravy and vegetables, and it's long been a staple of British home cooking.

Nobody knows for certain. The usual explanation is that the sausages peeking out of the risen batter look like a toad poking out of its hole — a popular account rather than a documented one. Names of this shape for meat baked in batter appear in English cookery writing from the 18th century.

Onion gravy is the classic partner. Beyond that, peas, greens, carrots, or roasted root vegetables are all traditional alongside it — and a vegetable side is the easiest way to add plants and colour groups on top of the one already in the dish.

Yes. Let it cool fully, then wrap it well or pack it into an airtight container, and it keeps in the freezer for around 2–3 months. The batter loses some of its crispness on thawing, so warm it through in a hot oven rather than a microwave.

Yes. Cooled leftovers keep for 2–3 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Warm them in a hot oven until piping hot right through — that brings the batter back to crisp, which a microwave won't do.

Toad in the Hole reaches 1 of Sundew's 6 colour groups: white-tan, from the onion. Serving it with a green or orange vegetable brings more of the rainbow onto the same plate.