Recipe
Vegetarian Scotch Eggs Done Right
The humble scotch egg has been a staple of British picnics, car journeys, and pubs since before living memory, reportedly first rolling onto the scene in the 18th century as an invention of the London department store Fortnum & Mason, controversially making it not actually Scottish.
Scotch eggs, in my view, are best enjoyed with a pint in hand while lounging on a picnic blanket in the weak but persistent heat of the British summertime, however they've recently made their way onto restaurant menus, competing with the stalwart classic of fish and chips.
Traditionally made with sausage meat, this faux-Scottish snack has been sadly off the menu for vegetarians. Yet times are changing, and thanks to Quorn mince scotch eggs are now for the herbivores among us.
This particular recipe calls for deep frying, however if this isn't your style these can also be baked. Simply coat them in oil with a pastry brush, and bake at 200C for 20 minutes or until browned.
Vegetarian Scotch Eggs
- Prep Time: 40 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Servings: 5
Ingredients
- 300g bag Quorn Mince
- 7 eggs
- 1 large clove garlic minced
- 50-75g breadcrumbs or 1 slice bread blended
- 1 tspn dried sage
- 1 tspn flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 tspn nutmeg
- 1/2 tspn cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tspn salt
- 1/2 tspn pepper
- flour for dusting
- sunflower vegetable or other deep frying oil
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
This is a lot trickier than it sounds.
I've found that the best way to do that is to use cling film instead of flour. Flour can dry out the mince mixture, making it more crumbly and difficult to mould, and the sheets of cling film can aid in the wrapping process.
So the first thing to do here is to roll out a golf ball sized lump of mince between two sheets of cling film until it's about as thick as two pennies.
Step 4
Step 5
The mince at this point is delicate, so don't expect to succeed on the first try; you can always roll it back out again.