Pork & Bacon Scotch Egg

Serves 4

Prep time 60 minutes

Ingredients

250g pork mince
125g bacon mince
1 tsp rosemary, chopped
1 pinch of black pepper
4 whole eggs
Plain flour, for dusting
3 eggs, beaten
200g Panko breadcrumbs
Oil, for deep-frying
1 leeks washed and diced

Ingredients For Butternut Squash puree

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into equal sized cubes
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
75g cold butter cubes
Spring of thyme

Ingredients For Salad

1 handful of local rucola, washed and dried
2 tbs of canned chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Couple of drops of lemon juice
Pinch of salt and pepper

Method

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the whole eggs. Cook for 5 minutes, then drain and refresh in iced water. Once cool enough to handle, carefully peel and set aside. 

In a small pan drizzle a tablespoon of cooking oil and lightly sweat the diced leeks, add chopped rosemary and set a side to cool.

Mix together the pork mince, bacon mince, black pepper and cooled leek and rosemary mix in a large bowl. Divide the mixture into 4 separate balls. Divide each ball of meat into two, flattening into patties. As you do so, dust each of the peeled eggs in flour, then carefully wrap two patties around each one, molding them into a smooth, uniform shape.     



Once all the eggs have been covered with the venison mixture, preheat a deep-fat fryer or deep pan of oil to 180°C. Dredge the meat-covered eggs in the beaten egg, then cover in Panko breadcrumbs. Repeat this process twice to ensure a full covering of breadcrumbs, then repeat with the rest of the eggs. 



Deep-fry the Scotch eggs for 5 minutes 30 seconds until golden brown all over (you may need to do this in batches to stop the pan from becoming overcrowded).

Drain on kitchen paper, allow to rest for 3 minutes, then serve warm. 

Method For Butternut Squash puree

Preheat an oven to 170°C.

Place the halved butternut squash on a tray and add the thyme. Drizzle with olive oil and season, then place the two halves together and wrap in foil. Bake for 40 minutes until tender, then remove from the oven. 

Discard the thyme and transfer the cooked squash to a blender. Blitz on full power with the butter until smooth.



Method For Salad

Carefully shred rucola as thin as you can, going through the rucola with the knife only one time. Add the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and mix everything together. 

Tips: prepare this salad right before serving to keep its crisp freshness.