Veggie toad-in-the-hole

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas

Step 2

Peel 2 onions and chop diagonally into 5cm pieces, along with the carrots (there’s no need to peel them). Transfer to a 30cm x 30cm roasting tray, toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then roast for 20 minutes. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a 35cm x 25cm roasting tray, and place in the oven alongside to get hot (make sure that the shelf is lowered so the Yorkshire has room to rise). Meanwhile, tip 150g of the flour into a large jug, pour in the milk, 50ml of cold water and whisk together, making sure you don’t have any lumps. Once well combined, whisk through the eggs one at a time and season lightly with sea salt and black pepper. Finely chop the sage leaves and remaining onions, place in a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil and cook for 10 minutes, or until softened. Quickly run the bread under the tap to soften, then squeeze out the excess water and place in a bowl. Add just half of the sage and onion mixture and use your hands to scrunch together, then divide and roll the mixture into golf ball-sized rounds and rub with 1 tablespoon of oil. Once the time’s up on the carrots and onions, add the veggie stuffing balls to the tray, nestling them in between the veg, then return to the oven. Working quickly but carefully, pull the oiled tray out of the oven and pour in the batter. Turn up the heat to 220°C/425°F/gas 7 and cook for 20 minutes, or until puffed up and golden – don’t be tempted to open the oven door during that time. Meanwhile, crack on with the gravy. Boil the kettle. Place the onion and sage pan on a medium-high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar, the jam, yeast extract and crumble in the stock cube. Stir in the remaining flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually pour in 500ml of boiling kettle water and simmer for 5 minutes. Season to taste, then let it bubble away until your desired consistency, stirring regularly. Strain through a sieve into a jug, if you like, then transfer to a saucepan and cover to keep warm. Wash, drain and very thinly slice the cabbage (stalks and all) and place in the empty gravy pan (there’s no need to clean it). Pour in 2 tablespoons of cold water, cover with a lid and leave to steam for 5 minutes, or until tender, adding the frozen peas for the final 2 minutes. Remove the giant Yorkshire pud to your board, scatter over the carrots, onions and stuffing balls, then slice up and serve with the cabbage, peas and gravy.