Toad-in-the-hole with a healthy twist!

We're big sausage fans in our household but as they are quite fatty, we occasionally replace the normal sausages with chicken versions. As I'm not much of a cook, I was delighted to get an invite from Richmond Sausages to taste test their new chicken sausages and to learn a few new easy homely recipes using them. Their chicken sausages were launched recently and are available in all major supermarkets - and I was pretty interested in hearing that they have 30% less fat than normal sausages! So definitely a (slightly) healthier option.

Please note that this post and recipe is written in collaboration with Richmond Sausages. Please also check the giveaway for £25 Tesco voucher at the bottom of the post - winner could get plenty of sausages with that!

At the event we tasted loads of different family favourites made using the chicken sausages - they were versatile and worked well from pasta dishes to bangers and mash. My favourite recipe of the day was the healthy Toad-in-the-hole recipe though, which I want to share with you!

Toad-in-the-hole with a healthy twist

Ingredients:

Batter:
1 cup plain flour
4 medium eggs
½ cup of milk
1 tsp chopped rosemary
few gratings of lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste

Filling:
8 Richmond Chicken Sausages
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 bag of spinach
1 ½ cups of broccoli florets trimmed and cut into bitesize pieces
1 cup frozen peas (thawed in cold water)

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C.
2. Make the batter. Whisk all the batter ingredients in a bowl until smooth, place in fridge to rest.
3. Pour oil in a large roasting tray (ceramic is recommended, but glass and metal work too). Put the sausages in the tray and toss them in oil to coat. Place in oven and cook for 10-15 minutes, until browned. Turn sausages half way.
4. Steam broccoli until slightly cooked by placing a bowl with 3 tbsp water, covering and microwaving for 2 minutes.
5. Remove the sausage tray from oven, add all the vegetables to the tray and give everything a quick shake.
6. Pour the batter over vegetables and sausages and quickly return the tray to the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the batter is puffed and golden.
7. Remove from oven, allow to sit for a moment and serve! Gravy goes nicely with this dish too.

And one of the tips I got was to keep the pan as hot as possible before pouring the batter in - even if it means you pretty much keep it in the oven, just pull it out a bit and pour the batter in right there and then. This helps the batter to rise properly.

picture of richmond chicken sausages packets

I had great fun at the cooking event and I got some fab cooking tips and instructions from both the professional chef developing recipes for Richmond, and Angellica Bell, the 2017 Celebrity MasterChef winner.

We yapped away at the end, going through the tips and all, and I got to ask Angellica also what kind of food she cooks back home for her kids. Unsurprisingly, not the MasterChef type fancy cuisine, but the usual lasagne, pasta and other homely dishes are what get her kids excited.

My child is unusually fussy but Angellica had a tip for that too. What Angellica tells her kids when they don't want to eat her meals is that they only need to taste, and if they still don't like it, she will prep something else. And after tasting, they usually are happy to eat it. Might be of course her cooking skills that are doing the trick, so my concoctions might not garner the same support back home... but I'll try that tip too!

Try this toad in the hole recipe with a healthy twist - made using Richmond Chicken Sausages, and green vegetables!

Enter the giveaway below using Rafflecopter and comment on the post what your favourite sausage recipe you might make with the Richmond Chicken Sausages! Entry open to UK adults aged 18 and over, one entry per person, selection random, Wave to Mummy is the data controller. Full T&C's.