A Baked Dozen... Baked Scotch Eggs

I made Scotch eggs last night. I've only had Scotch eggs on a few occasions, but they have always been fabulous. The first time I had one my sister in law made them, the second was at the Renaissance Festival... and then I had one at a street stall in London... So not only were they good they also had wonderful memories to go along with them. So when I decided to make them at home they had some pretty big shoes to fill.

There are many theories about the origin of the Scotch egg . In 1809 there was a recipe published that is similar to this dish, but in this recipe you smother your egg in gravy. Other sources suggest that it was inspired by an Indian dish called Kofta. One source says that in the original dish the egg was smeared in fish paste rather than covered in sausage...and still another possibility is that it was invented by a London based department store and sold as travelers food as early as 1738. Whatever the origin these eggs are packed with flavor and a lot of fun to make.

Normally these eggs are served as street or as a bar food and they are fried. While this recipe is by no means low fat or healthy it is baked instead of fried so it's a little lighter than the original dish. We made these for dinner last night and served them with a salad. I doubled this recipe so we would each have one for breakfast as well.

Scotch Eggs

4 eggs

1 lb sausage

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp mustard

1/4 cup each parsley and chives

Salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs, beaten (I did not need to double this when I doubled the recipe

flour

bread crumbs

Directions

Put the eggs into a medium pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil for 4 minutes, then transfer to a bowl of ice cold water. Peel them when cooled.

In a medium bowl combine sausage meat with nutmeg, mustard, parsley, chives, salt and pepper. Divide the mixture into four parts.

Take one piece of sausage mixture, form a ball and flatten into a patty. Roll the egg in flour and shape the sausage patty around each egg.

Pre-heat oven to 400F 

Roll each meat wrapped egg into flour, then dip into beaten eggs and coat with crumbs.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes until the sausage is completely cooked.

Rest for 5 minutes before serving.