Wind In The Willows, Minted-Honey Glazed Chicken & Corn Pone

Toad In The Hole

Mister Toad is the fascinating character from Kenneth Grahame's classic The Wind In The Willows; whether the wily amphibian had anything to do with naming of this dish is beside the point!

Toad in The Hole is a classic English lunch/dinner dish, that is not the same as the American breakfast with the same name. The American dish has an egg fried in a hole cut from the middle of a slice of toast. The English dish is fried sausages in pastry similar to Yorkshire puddings.  Here's how:

2 cups AP Flour, sifted

2 cups Whole Milk or Half & Half or just plain water

1/ 4 tsp Kosher Salt

3 Eggs

1/8 cup Lard

6 Banger Sausage – about a pound – can't find Bangers, any good, non-Italian sausage would do (Kielbasa,Bratwurst, Linguica, etc)

Put the lard in an 8x12 baking dish in a pre-heated-to-450F oven. Let things get very hot – say 15-20 minutes.

While that's going on, beat the eggs and milk together in a container. In a bowl, combine the sifted flour and salt, then slowly pour in the liquid while stirring to avoid lumps. Beat with a whisk to completely combine things and add more liquid as necessary make a thin crepe-like batter. Rest the batter in the fridge while the pan continues to heat.

When the pan is “disfiguringly hot”, carefully lay in the sausages and bake them for 5 minutes on each side.

Now that the sausage are partially cooked, carefully pour the batter over everything, and return the pan to the oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes and don't peek!   At the 20 minute mark, check the Toad to see if the batter is now GB&D. You may need another few minutes to get a nice crusty all-over brown.

Cut the Toad into portions and plate with mashed potatoes and peas, the two classic English accompaniments. Some nice Bistotm gravy goes good here, as does a bit of nice sharp mustard.

Corn Pone

Ask six people their recipe for corn pone and, if they understand the question, you'll get at least seven answers!  

Corn Pone is an old fashioned dish, similar to, but not the same as corn bread. Cornbread can approach corn “cake” in thickness and richness. Corn pone is pancake thin, and fairly stiff (chewy), except when hot. A couple of corn pones was considered 'travel food' for a day in the woods by our pioneer forefathers.

Pone is simpler than cornbread but still has a number of variables. Some combine corn meal and wheat flower; some add eggs, some add sugar, or both. People argue over whether the corn meal should be yellow or white; should you use baking powder or baking soda or both, and on and on.

We had a guest stay with us who was doing the gluten-free thing.  I wanted to do some sort bread – thing for her, and decided to do a very simple corn pone – meal, water, salt and baking powder; cooked in a skillet in the oven. So I did a test – regular southern white corn meal versus the special PAN flour used to make Arepas. Which would cook up better, and taste better?

I made two batches of dough, each with 1 cup of flour, 1-1/4 cup water, 1/4 tsp Kosher salt and 1 tsp of baking powder. Each batch was stirred together and rested for 15 minutes to allow the flours to re-hydrate to the fullest. They were then cooked in identical pans for 15 minutes in a 450F oven.

The regular white corn meal pone was OK. Not great, or particularly tasty, but hey! what do you want from cornmeal and water? Crispy on the outside and rather dry on the inside.

On the other hand, the pone made from the PAN flour was pretty tasty! Crisp on the outside and soft inside, with the distinctive “corn tortilla” flavor of Latin masa flour. 

 Even a day later, this pone was still nice and soft on the inside, although the outside had lost its crispness.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Minted Honey Glazed Chicken

This one is Sally's idea. We had fresh mint and chicken breasts, and Sally was jonesing to use some of the goat cheese we had recently gotten at Costco. So I made this up as I went along...

2 Chicken Breasts

2 Tbsp minced fresh Mint

1/4 cup Honey

2 oz Goat Cheese

Cavender's Greek Seasoning

Stir the minced mint into the honey and reserve.

Saute the breasts in a splash of EVOO 5-6 minutes per side, basting each side with the minted honey.

Remove the meat from the pan and butterfly the breasts by slicing nearly in half through the thickness. Lay the cut side of each butterfly back in the pan for a minute or two while you glaze the top and bottom.

Remove the breasts again, and place 2 or 3 coins of goat cheese between the cut faces as you close the butterfly's wings and press lightly. 

 The heat will slightly melt the goat cheese as you plate and serve. Brush with any remaining honey as you serve.  I served ours with a saute of bell peppers, shallot, and chopped tomatoes, spiced with Cavender's.