Hannah’s 1st Note: There is a bit of preparation you must do before you can make these Baked Scotch Eggs. The day before you plan to make them, hard-boil 4 large eggs. (Or 8 large eggs if you plan to double this recipe.) Once the eggs are hard-boiled, place them in the refrigerator overnight to chill. Baked Scotch Eggs are much easier to make if the hard-boiled eggs are chilled.
Ingredients:
4 large eggs, hard-boiled
12 oz. bulk pork sausage (I used Farmer John’s Premium Original pork sausage, it comes in a chub)
1 teaspoon dried, minced onion (you can find this in the spice aisle)
1 teaspoon salt
? cup all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
? cup Progresso Italian Style Bread Crumbs
1 fresh egg, beaten (just crack it into a glass and beat it up with a fork)
Instructions:
When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
While your oven is preheating, prepare your baking sheet by lining a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
Take your hard-boiled eggs out of the refrigerator.
Peel the eggs, making sure no shell remains.
In a large bowl, mix the 12 ounces of pork sausage with the teaspoon of dried, minced onion.
Sprinkle on a teaspoon of salt and mix everything up together.
Divide the sausage mixture into 4 (four) equal portions.
Make each portion into a flat patty.
Place ? cup of all-purpose flour in a flat bowl. Spread out the flour in the bowl. (When I made these, I used a pie plate to hold the flour.)
Roll each peeled, hard-boiled egg in flour to coat it.
Place one floured egg on one of the sausage patties.
Shape the sausage around the egg, covering the egg completely.
Repeat for the other eggs until all of them are coated with sausage.
If you haven’t done so already, crack the fresh egg into a bowl and whip it up with a fork.
If there is flour left over in the flat bowl, dump it out and replace it with Progresso Italian Style Bread Crumbs.
Dip each sausage-coated egg into the beaten egg mixture, coating the outside with beaten egg.
Quickly roll the resulting creation in the breadcrumbs, making sure it is coated completely.
Place the finished hard-boiled egg on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Repeat with the other eggs, leaving an inch or two between the eggs.
Bake your eggs at 400 degrees F. for 35 to 40 minutes or until the sausage has been cooked.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let your Baked Scotch Eggs cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before serving them to your guests.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you have trouble dipping the sausage-coated eggs in the egg wash, you can brush the egg wash on the outside of the sausage. Be sure to coat the eggs with the wash completely.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: Rather than rolling the eggs in the bread crumbs, you can place the egg in the flat bowl with the bread crumbs and sprinkle them over the whole surface.
Yield: 4 delicious treats or appetizers that everyone will enjoy.
SPECIAL BOURSIN CHEESE-FILLED MUSHROOMS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Ingredients:
20 large fresh mushrooms (get a few extra, just in case)
5-ounce container of Boursin cheese (I like to use the kind that comes mixed with herbs)
? cup bread crumbs (I used Progresso Italian Style)
teaspoon salt
Directions:
Start by preparing your baking sheet. Line a baking sheet (I prefer a jelly roll pan because it has sides) with parchment paper.
Begin by washing and drying your mushrooms. (Do this gently and pat them dry using paper towels.)
If your mushrooms have stems, twist and then pull them out. Throw away the stems. You won’t need them for this recipe.
Place your mushrooms on your baking sheet.
Get out a microwave-safe bowl that will hold at least a cup and a half.
Take your Boursin cheese out of the refrigerator, remove the top of the container, scoop out the cheese, and place it in the microwave-safe bowl.
Heat the cheese in the microwave for 30 seconds on HIGH.
Stir in the salt.
Let the cheese rest in the microwave for another 30 seconds.
Remove the bowl from the microwave and stir the cheese around with a fork from your silverware drawer. If it stirs easily, set it on the kitchen counter.
Measure out the quarter-cup of bread crumbs. If the kind you bought doesn’t contain seasonings, add a few Italian seasonings to the crumbs.
Hannah’s 1st Note: My Italian style bread crumbs had onion powder, garlic salt, parsley, and a few other Italian spices.
Add the bread crumbs to the bowl with the salt and the softened cheese, mixing them in as you go.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: This is easier if you don’t just dump in the bread crumbs all at once. Add them little by little, mixing with the fork before you add more.
Pick up one of the mushrooms and wipe the outside of the cap with softened salted butter. This is easy to do if you use a square of folded cheesecloth to dip into the butter and wipe it on the outside of the mushroom cap. Do this with all of your mushrooms before you begin to fill them with the cheese mixture.
Choose a small spoon from your silverware drawer to scoop out a spoonful of the cheese mixture and fill the cavity of the mushroom caps.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: Fill your mushrooms all the way to the top of the cavity, but don’t mound them too much on top. You don’t want your delicious filling to melt over the sides of the mushrooms.
HANNAH’S MAKE AHEAD TIP: If you like, you can do all this in the morning before you want to serve your Special Boursin Cheese-Filled Mushrooms. If you fill all of the mushrooms ahead of time, cover the baking sheet securely with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator, you can get them out when your company arrives, let them warm up 15 minutes on the kitchen counter, and then bake them.
Bake your mushrooms at 350 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Then take them out of the oven and let them cool on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack. DO NOT serve these immediately. They must cool for at least 10 to 15 minutes before you serve them.
To serve, place each mushroom on a salted cracker, salt side down, and arrange them on a pretty platter. It’s best if you prepare to make a double batch and have more ready to go in the refrigerator. Believe me, your guests will gobble them up and beg you for more!
Yield: At least 20 large Special Boursin Cheese-Filled Mushrooms that everyone will enjoy as an appetizer. They are especially good with dry white or red wine.
Chapter Six