Scotch eggs

When you've tasted a homemade Scotch egg you will never again want to eat the mass--produced pretenders available from supermarkets. So, roll up your sleeves and you'll see egg-sactly what we mean!

Ingredients

• 8 local free-range eggs
• 400 g pork mince
• Handful of fresh sage leaves, chopped
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 125 g streaky bacon, rind removed and finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• Flour, for dusting
• 250 g fresh breadcrumbs (just whizz up some bread in your blender – great way of using up slightly stale bread, wholemeal or white)
• Sunflower oil, for deep-frying

Preparation

1. Boil 6 of the eggs by placing in a pan of cold water and bringing to the boil. Simmer for 8 minutes, then cool under cold running water. Peel and put aside.
2. Mix the mince, bacon, sage, onions and pepper in a large bowl. Divide the mince into 6 portions and place on a floured surface, flattening them down. Dust your hands with flour and carefully wrap each egg in a portion of mince, until it is fully and evenly coated.
3. Beat the remaining eggs and roll each Scotch egg in the remaining flour, then dip in the egg and roll in the breadcrumbs.
4. If you have a deep-fat fryer, set it to 160°C. If not, pour approximately 4 cm of oil into a deep frying pan and heat to a temperature of 190°C. Test with a heatproof culinary thermometer – if you don’t have one, add a cube of bread to the oil. If the bread turns golden after a minute, the oil is hot enough. Fry the eggs in batches of 3 for 8 - 10 minutes, until they are a lovely golden brown. Cool completely on kitchen paper then pack them up and enjoy your picnic!