My black pudding bonbons have become famous. They started off as a humble Glamorgan sausage (a Welsh vegetarian croquette made of leeks and cheese). Then I introduced my old friend, the mighty black pudding and experimented a lot before I perfected the recipe. But behold... they have transformed again, into Scotch Eggs, with a hidden runny yolk inside!
They've been called 'yummo' by John Torode, 'delightful' by Thomasina Miers and 'banging' by my very honest flatmates/ food guinea pigs.
Eat hot or cold, in the park, in your lunchbox, on the go or just sitting on the sofa watching Gogglebox. It really doesn't matter - they always taste great!
Makes 5 large scotch eggs
- 7 medium eggs
- 1 leek
- 5 sage leaves
- a small bunch of parsley
- a small bunch of thyme
- 400g black pudding chubb
- 1½ tsp English mustard
- 200g extra mature cheese, grated
- ½ loaf of white bread (nothing fancy)
- Salt and pepper
- 4 heaped tbsp flour
- oil, for deep frying
Take two eggs, separate and keep the yolks and whites together. Add the yolks to a mixing bowl, and the whites to a deep baking dish for dredging later.
Cut the leek lengthways three times then finely slice vertically and add to the bowl. Chop chop chop your herbs really finely and add to the bowl with mustard, the grated cheese and loads of salt and pepper. Crumble in the black pudding between your fingers.
Blitz the white bread in a food processor until you've got fine breadcrumbs. Add a third to the mixing bowl, and keep the rest in a baking dish until the dredging begins (keep them uncovered so that the air gets to them and they go a little dry). Give everything a good mix with your hands so that there are no big lumps of black pudding. Divide the mixture into five big balls, cover and keep in the fridge for at least 30 mins so they firm up.
Now we want to boil the eggs so that they still have a lovely runny yolk inside. To do this take five of your eggs, add to a pan and cover half way with cold water. Turn the heat on high and once they start to boil, set your timer for four minutes and keep them rolling until the time is up (four minutes is perfect for medium eggs). Now plunge them into ice cold water and leave to completely cold.
These eggs will not be very firm, as the yolk is still runny, so you need to peel them gently. Once completely cool, gently tap the egg on every side and start to peel, using the white film layer to pull away the shell and keep the egg in tact. Repeat with all the eggs then take the balls of mixture out of the fridge.
Pour your flour out into a dish, add your eggs and roll them about to completely cover them in flour. Take one of the balls of mixture in your left hand and use your right hand to make an egg shaped well in the middle. Add the egg and carefully sculpt the mixture around to enclose it. Once the egg has disappeared roll this in your hands to create a sphere. Repeat with the rest.
Fill a large sauce pan ¾ full with oil (vegetable, sunflower or groundnut are all fine). Heat this and keep an eye. Use a cube of bread to test the temperature. It should immediately fizz up and go golden in about 15 seconds.
Dredge your scotch eggs one at a time. Whisk up the egg whites a little in your dish. Arrange the flour, egg white and breadcrumb dishes side by side. First roll the scotch egg in flour using one hand, then plop and roll in the egg white and finish my plopping and shaking about in the breadcrumbs, making sure that they are completely crumbed. Repeat
Depending on how big your saucepan is, you might need to fry one at a time. Gently lower a scotch egg into the oil, keeping it hovered in half way for a couple of seconds. Then let go and keep an eye. They will take about four minutes, so make sure the oil isn't too hot and keep it moving with a pair of tongs to brown all over. Drain on kitchen paper and leave for a couple of minutes before you dig in.
Eat hot or cold, in the park, in your lunchbox, on the go or just sitting on the sofa watching Gogglebox. It really doesn't matter - they always taste great!