Scottish Eggs 6'16

Scottish Eggs

 With the arrival of Summer's warm weather, Bruce and I have been planning a lot of picnics. I was looking through some of my cookbooks for picnic foods when I ran across a recipe for Scottish Eggs.  It seems like my Scottish ancestors had a penchant for fried food, ( which I did not inherit) but this dish is actually pretty tasty, plus it can be cooked ahead of time, travels well, and is quite filling.

Here's the recipe I follow

INGREDIENTS

• 4 large eggs  
• 2 tbsp flour seasoned with salt and pepper
• 8 oz good quality sausage meat or skinless sausage (I used a blend of ground turkey and ground Italian pork sausage) 
• Dash Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped (or any other fresh herb that takes your fancy - like sage)
• 1 egg, beaten
•  Home-made dry breadcrumbs or a good quality crumb such as GF Panko 
• Peanut oil for deep frying (I've made them both in a deep fryer and in a frying pan)

PREPARATION

• Heat the oven to 350 F
•  Place the eggs in a pan of boiling water and cook for exactly 7 minutes. Remove from the pan and plunge into iced water to stop them cooking. Once cool, peel the eggs and put to one side.
•  Dust the hard boiled eggs by rolling them in the seasoned flour.
•  Place the sausage meat in a large bowl, add the Worcestershire sauce, spring onions, fresh herbs and mace, if using, and season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
•  Divide the sausage meat into 4 equal portions.
•  Form each portion into a flat cake large enough to fit around the egg. Work the sausage meat around the egg as evenly as possible whilst working hard to keep the egg shape and making sure there are no cracks. Place the meat coated eggs in the fridge for 15 minutes.
•  Roll the boiled eggs in the seasoned flour followed by the beaten egg, then into the crumbs and press lightly to ensure a good 'fix'.
•  Heat  1 ½" of oil in a deep frying pan. Heat the oil to 180°C / 350°F (or until a cube of bread turns golden brown) in less than a minute. Place the coated eggs in the oil, raise the heat slightly and cook the eggs, turning frequently for 3 minutes. Remove the eggs and then place on a tray and pop into the preheated oven for 6 minutes or until golden brown all over.
•  Drain on kitchen paper and serve warm or cool if for a picnic or lunch box.
•  Scotch eggs can be made the day before and kept in the fridge.