Haggis Scotch egg (Makes: 6 Preparation time: 30/45 minutes)

Scotch eggs have definitely been on the brain this weekend.  In honour of the Joneses being in town I thought I would try out a new recipe on them.  So this morning I knocked up some Scotch eggs for lunch.

I have to be honest it didn’t go entirely to plan!  Having successfully soft boiled the eggs  I then proceeded to ruin 6 of them whilst peeling off the shells. I don’t know if I was being particularly heavy handed or if the eggs weren’t as fresh as normal but whatever it was I ended up with a lot of yolk on my hands and had a minor sense of humour failure.  Fortunately for me my housemate came to the rescue and not only picked up some more eggs but ended up peeling the little devils for me.

Today’s Scotch eggs were made using both duck and chicken eggs and they were both equally as good as each other.  The only slight plus in favour of the duck eggs  they proved to be slightly more robust when it came to peeling and were the only two eggs that I actually managed to peel successfully.

For the meaty shell I used a combination of sausage meat and haggis, which helped the haggis to become more malleable for shaping around the egg whilst retaining its earthy beautifully seasoned flavour!  I am pleased to report after the initial egg peeling disaster all of the Scotch eggs once deep fried had retained their runny yolk – WIN!!!

Now then I have to stress that the even though I had what can only be described as an utter fail this morning – this was highly unusual!  Please do not let this put you off making  these little beauties as it really is very straightforward!  Enjoy.

Haggis Scotch egg
Makes: 6
Preparation time: 30-45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 400g haggis
• 400g sausage meat
• 6 eggs  (duck or chicken)
• 1 chicken egg (beaten)
• 150g breadcrumbs
• Rapeseed oil (for deep frying)

Steps:

1. Soft boil your eggs: (a) If using duck eggs – cook in boiling water for 7 minutes; or  (b) If using chicken eggs – cook in boiling water for 5 minutes.  Once cooked put in a bowl of cold water and leave to cool slightly before peeling.
2. In a bowl mix together the haggis and sausage meat – you will need to use your hands to do this.
3. Split the meat into six roughly equal balls, take a piece of cling film and flatten the one of the meat balls until it is large enough to encase one of the eggs. Place an egg in the centre of the meat and then carefully create the meat shell (use the cling film to help easy it around the egg and form a ball shape).  Take your time on this stage and gradually smooth around the outside, removing any excess meat as necessary.  Repeat until all 6 of the eggs are encased in their meaty shell.
4. Dip each of the Scotch eggs in the beaten egg and then into the breadcrumbs making sure that they are well coated.
5. Pour enough rapeseed oil into a saucepan to deep-fry the Scotch eggs, heat the oil on a high until it is very hot. To test if it is ready drop a small piece of the meat mix in the oil and see if the oil bubbles around it then you should be good to go.
6. Fry your Scotch eggs one at a time cooking for 5-6 minutes until it turns golden brown and float on the surface of the oil, carefully remove using a slotted spoon and drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Repeat until all the Scotch eggs are cooked.
7. Serve immediately, with gherkins, sea salt and mustard on the side.