Scotch Eggs

Scotch eggs are something I've always heard about, but have never actually eaten or seen on a menu before. Maybe I'm just going to the wrong places (although growing up in a Vietnamese house probably has to do with me not trying one for the first 18 years of my life). This weekend I decided to just go for it and I am so happy to say it was a success! The moment I cut into this thing and saw that I did not completely overcook the egg into a pale yellow sad sack, I had culinary euphoria. I was so excited. I am still excited and it's long been eaten. I used turkey sausage because I liked the idea of a lighter taste to contrast the fried coating -- it's not exactly health food I know, but I preferred not to have too much extra fat that wasn't going to contribute to my enjoyment of the dish. Perdue has some good turkey sausages, I'm sure Findlay Market has very interesting varieties of sausage to experiment with (there's a lamb and cherry one that could be great I think). I highly highly recommend cooking the eggs beforehand and letting them cool overnight -- this helps make the eggs super easy to peel the next morning and slow the cooking of the egg once you fry it.

I can try for a runny egg next time, but for now, this'll do. This will do.

(for 2 servings)

3 large eggs 

2 turkey sausage links (in casing)

1/2 cup of flour 

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

Cover 2 of the eggs with cold water and bring to a boil. Cook for 3 minutes. Take off the stove, submerge in cold water, and drain. Place the eggs in the fridge overnight. 

The next morning, crack the uncooked egg and mix it with about a tablespoon of water. Whisk it a little bit to make an egg wash.  Set up your breading station and lay out the flour and panko.

Remove the sausage from its casing but keep each portion separate. Carefully peel the previously boiled eggs (although if you mess up a tiny bit, no one will know!). Wrap each egg with the meat from one sausage link so that it completely covers the egg -- no egg white peeping out -- and forms a ball. Dredge each sausage ball into the flour, tap to remove excess flour. You can play hot potato a little bit with it to remove the excess flour. Next, dip it in the egg wash mixture, then dip it in the panko crumbs.

Heat the frying oil to 350F degrees. If you don't have a fry thermometer, I heat the oil until I dip a wooden chopstick into the oil and bubbles start quickly forming around the tip. Place the balls into the frying oil. Cook each egg for 4-6 minutes, rotating a few times in the oil. 

Slice into it and enjoy, pat yourself on the back. 

Linkipe: "Ham + Cheese" Breakfast Casserole

Two good friends of mine got married last night (yay!). I love weddings and I was especially excited about this one, all the more so because I knew there was going to be lots of dancing and drinking into the wee hours of the morning. I knew today would be a lazy day and I wouldn't have the energy to cook anything, so I prepped as much as I could yesterday afternoon. I washed and cut up some berries, I made a lemon vinaigrette for a simple salad to go with our brunch, I purchased an abundance of beverages to help us rehydrate, and I made a breakfast casserole which I could pop into the oven this morning + let cook while I curled back up in bed.

This casserole was really easy to throw together, and the substitutions I made based on what I had on hand did nothing to diminish its deliciousness! I used leeks instead of onions, old baguette instead of challah bread -- still yummy. Good recipe to master before the holidays...