Since then I have visited many ultra trendy food markets in various hipster areas around north/west London and have not been able to resist a scotch egg on offer. The Chorizo flavoured one in London Fields, the black pudding one in Notting Hill, all divine!
I have been mulling over my first post and what I should cook as my opening gambit into the world of food blogging, not something too fancy but something that would make everyone's mouths water (as mine does every time I look at a recipe). What better thing than a little ball of yolky goodness? I love picnics (well I love the idea of picnics, trying to get anyone to go on one with me is a different story) and I love picky food, anything I can fit into my mouth in one or two bites is preferable so these seem perfect. Alright I know it is November and no one is going on picnics right now, but you could definitely add these to your Christmas party snacks repertoire.
I anticipated my greatest challenge would be a runny yolk, I do believe I cracked (pun intended) the timing last weekend when I made dippy egg with soldiers - yes that is the correct name for boiled eggs and toast - when I set the alarm to 4 minutes, this was with medium free range though so large may be a minute longer? Not sure if egg size directly relates to runny-ness.
Also a small note on eggs, I do believe that unhappy hens make unhappy eggs and will only buy free - range or organic, I am leaning towards more organic produce after watching a series of documentaries on Netflix which have left me with nightmares and have made me suspicious of most meat/diary products - damn you Netflix! (For anyone interested - Food Inc and Vegucated to name a few)
Recipe is (obviously) from Jamie Oliver's website, the man is a genius
Makes eight
- 10 large free range/organic eggs, 2 beaten
- 800 grams of sausage meat (highest % of meat you can afford)
- a small bunch of fresh chives, finely chopped
- a small bunch of fresh parsley, leaves finely chopped
- 1 whole nutmeg
- 1 tbsp of English mustard
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- plain flour, for dusting
- 150 grams of white breadcrumbs
- 2 litres of vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp of vegetable or corn oil
Method
- put the kettle on and get out a saucepan big enough for all the eggs, pour the boiled water in the pan and turn it on a high heat. Add the eggs before the water starts boiling as I find they are more likely to crack if the water is on a rolling boil, set the timer for 4 minutes
- squeeze the meat out of the sausages and add the herbs, mustard, a good grating of nutmeg and salt and pepper and mix well with hands
- once the timer for the eggs goes off put them into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process, peel once cooled and set aside
- separate the meat into 8 largish balls, about the size of a baseball
- put the breadcrumbs, flour and beaten eggs in three separate bowls
- flour your hands and then put a meatball in your palm and mould it into an oval shape, take an egg and dust in flour then place in the meatball and mould around the egg making sure to seal the hole properly, repeat with all 8
- once done roll in flour, then eggs and then breadcrumbs, if you have enough leftover Jamie recommends double egging and breadcrumbing, but I didn't
- heat the oil, I didn't have a fancy thermometer (not made it to my Amazon wish list just yet) so I just dropped a bit of potato in the oil after 5 mins and once it sizzled I judged the oil to be hot enough
- gently lower in the scotch eggs and deep fry for about 4 mins each until brown all over, I done mine in batches as I used a wok instead of a deep fryer, you can just keep them in a warm oven until they are all done if you wish, this is also handy if you are worried about the meat being undercooked
- let cool and then slice open and enjoy! Hopefully with a soft yolk (nailed it didn't I)
