Black pudding scotch eggs

One of the great things about writing this blog is getting the chance to talk to the amazing people who run the farms and make them work. I’ve been speaking with the lovely David from Laverstoke Park Farm for about a month, and I was delighted when he asked me to write a guest blog post for the Laverstoke Park blog.

I really wanted to make some some black pudding scotch eggs with my remaining black pudding, and David sent me some of their organic sausagemeat to help create the recipe. This is one of the best recipes I’ve done to date so give it a go!

Laverstoke Black Pudding Scotch Eggs – makes five

You will need:

200g Laverstoke black pudding
400g Laverstoke organic pork sausage meat
6 medium eggs
150g Japanese panko breadcrumbs
Plain flour
Oil for deep frying, such as vegetable oil
Salt
White pepper

Boil the eggs

• In an ideal world, my perfect scotch egg has a slightly soft yolk in the middle; everyone has different tastes of course, so boil your eggs accordingly.
• Put five eggs in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Make sure they are originally at room temperature or the eggs could crack.
• Simmer for 6 minutes, then plunge the eggs into ice cold water.
• Peel the shells when cold.

Make the black pudding filling

• Roughly chop the black pudding, then pulverise in a food processor.
• Mix the sausage meat and black pudding until smooth – I had to do the icky, and use my hands.
• Season with salt and white pepper.

Prepare the scotch eggs

• Prepare three bowls containing plain flour, a beaten egg and the panko breadcrumbs (this is the good crunchy stuff that Japanese tonkatsu is deep fried in).
• Lay out a sheet of clingfilm on a chopping board (to prevent the meat from sticking).
• Take a handful of the meat filling and make a round patty on the clingfilm. Flatten it until it looks like it can wrap round an egg.
• Now dip a peeled egg in some flour, place in the middle of the patty and encase it with the meat filling. You can roll it around until evenly covered.
• When all the patties are done, dip each in flour, followed by beaten egg, followed by the breadcrumbs.

Deep fry!

• Heat your oil in a small, deep saucepan. You only need to fill it with a couple of inches of oil.
• Do the bread test (or guess as I did), to work out when the temperature is right. Drop a piece of bread into the oil, and if sizzles and turns golden brown like a crouton, it’s time.
• Put your scotch eggs in (I did them in batches of two) and deep fry for about five minutes until a deep golden brown. Keep turning them if the oil doesn’t fully cover the egg.
• Set aside on kitchen towels to drain the oil.

Serve your scotch eggs slightly hot, in lettuce leaf cups with ketchup for dipping. If you refrigerate them they may go soggy, so just pop them in the oven for a few minutes before serving again. I took these to a dinner party and everyone simply loved them – from the striking dark colour of the sausage meat to the unexpected rich and velvety taste. Chris called them ‘dragon eggs’ and I think that’s quite an apt way to describe them!

(This recipe originally appeared on the Laverstoke Park blog)

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