Scotch Eggs with a Connemara Coat

A quirky way of doing scotch eggs - great for a snack or a starter.

The dish is quicker and easier than the recipe suggests - just always take care when deep frying.
Enjoy, and please take the time to comment.

I am growing tired of TV foodie personalities who simply copy others without giving any credit and promote themselves as a brand.

Along with classic old recipes, I prefer to watch and read original cooks with real innovation who adapt or improve classics like Andy Bates or the Hairy Bikers - or chefs who make complex food more accessible, like Manuika Gowardhan 

Scotch eggs are actually an English invention, but seemed to have originated from India.

Nargisi Kofta, an egg dish from Hyderabad seems to be the source of this much maligned dish.

Because of poor, mass produced versions in Britain, Scotch eggs developed a poor reputation, but with a bit of care and attention they can be the star of the show.

I find chicken eggs quite big for this recipe, and using quail eggs better - although a little bit finicky to shell, it produces a cuter , smaller version - it is easier to cook (larger eggs take a bit more cooking as they have a thicker coat you run the risk of burning the coating) 

As well as that using quail eggs also stretches the coating mix further.

This is influenced by Bates, but using buttermilk and smoked black pudding to give it an Irish character and flavor. 

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FOR 12 PORTIONS

The Centre

12 Quails Eggs - boiled and peeled

250 Grams of your favorite sausage, skinned and out of their skins

100 Grams black or white pudding - I used McGeoughs smoked black.

Good pinch of mace

Good pinch of nutmeg

1/4 Teaspoon of Anchovie Paste

1 teaspoon of Mustard

The Coating

4 tablespoons buttermilk

3 tablespoons flour

1 beaten hens egg

Breadcrumbs to coat - I used Panko crumbs.

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First, boil the eggs. With quail eggs to prepare, bring a pot of water to the boil.

Plunge in the eggs. 

To soft boil, 2 1/2  minutes, hard boil 4 minutes.

Remove from the water when cooked to desire and put into cold water, under a tap, and leave for 5 minutes. This stops a dark ring forming around the yoke which looks unpleasant. 

In the meantime, prepare the coating.
Mix and season the spices, seasoning, sausage meat, mustard, paste and black pudding well.
On a layer of foil prepare as a patty - keeping your hands wet helps to stop stickyness.
I found spreading a little buttermilk on the foil helped it stop sticking.

Put an egg on the patty and gently scoop up a little bit with the egg and form the mixture as a coat around the egg to make a little parcel - again, keeping your hands a little wet helps a lot, and it is easier than it sounds.

In four small bowls separately and in order put the:
buttermilk -
flour -
beaten egg -
panko crumbs

Dip each parcel into the bowls in the above order shaking off the excess after each dip.

Heat Donegal rapeseed oil to 180C in a heavy based pot. Test the oil by frying a cube of bread which should turn golden in a few seconds.

Deep fry the parcels in small batches (I suggest 4 at a time) so as not to reduce the heat of the oil.

Remove from oil when dark golden brown, and take care - overcooking will burn the coat quickly.

Drain on kitchen paper.

Serve warm or cold, keeps for 3 days in fridge.

Simon's Super Simple Savage Cabbage and Salmon (and a little bit of Cork's Jewish history)

St Patrick's day, start of the growing season - so whats left?

Well, I'm stuck in Norway at the moment, but it does not mean I can't did up an old recipe to share.

Cabbage or kale is available all year round if the garden is planned well, its good for you, full of vitamin C, minerals and fiber.

This dish goes well also with pureed Jerusalem artichoke which are hardy, the smokey flavour works well with the bacon. Another good option is pureed parsnips - just to give some body or variety. 

In this dish it combines nicely with vinegar to offset salmon's richness.

Feeds 4 people.

1 small cabbage (about 1 lb.)
4  6-oz. salmon filets
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
250 grams (1⁄4 lb.ish) thick-cut bacon, diced
60 ml (1⁄4 cup) dry white wine
60 ml (1⁄4 cup) cup cider vinegar
100 ml (1⁄2 cup) Fish Stock or water
100ml (1⁄2 cup) heavy cream
1 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1 tbsp. chopped fresh chives

1. Using a mandoline or knife, shred cabbage or kale 1⁄2" thick.

2. Brush or rub both sides of salmon filets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Sear filets in a large skillet or grill pan over high heat, until evenly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Wipe out pan with paper towels.

3. In the same pan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. 

Remove bacon, leaving fat in the pan. Drain bacon on paper towels and set aside. Add cabbage and/or kale to the bacon fat and cook 5 minutes. 

Add wine, vinegar, stock, and cream. Cover and cook until cabbage is wilted, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and place salmon filets in pan over wilted cabbage and/or kale. 

Cover tightly and cook until salmon is firm to the touch, about 10 minutes.

4. To serve, spoon cabbage/kale onto plates and sprinkle with the crisp bacon. Top cabbage with salmon filets and a spoonful of pan juices. 

Garnish with dill and chives.

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SURF AND TURF - A NOTE ON BEEF AND SALMON

Just a note for American readers on this day - you might be surprised to learn that your traditional St. Paddy’s meal—corned beef and cabbage—is as Irish as spaghetti. 

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place not in Dublin but in New York City, in 1762. 

Over the next 100 years, Irish immigration to the United States exploded. 

The new wave of immigrants brought their own food traditions, including soda bread and Irish stew. 

Pork was the preferred meat, since it was cheap in Ireland, as was salmon, and ubiquitous on the dinner table.

The favored cut was Irish bacon, a lean, smoked pork loin similar to the Canadian type familiar in the USA. 

However, in the United States at the time, pork was prohibitively expensive for most newly arrived Irish families, so they began cooking beef—the staple meat in the American diet—instead.

So how did pork and potatoes become corned beef and cabbage? 

Irish immigrants to America lived alongside other “undesirable” European ethnic groups that often faced discrimination in their new home, including Jews and Italians. 

Members of the Irish working class in New York City frequented Jewish delis and lunch carts, and it was there that they first tasted corned beef. 

Cured and cooked much like Irish bacon, it was seen as a tasty and cheaper alternative to pork. 

And while potatoes were certainly available in the United States, cabbage offered a more cost-effective alternative to cash-strapped Irish families. 

Cooked in the same pot, the spiced, salty beef flavored the plain cabbage, creating a simple, hearty dish that couldn’t be easier to prepare.

After taking off among New York City’s Irish community, corned beef and cabbage found fans across the country. It was the perfect dish for everyone from harried housewives to busy cooks on trains and in cafeterias—cheap, easy to cook and hard to overcook. 

It was even served alongside mock turtle coup at President Lincoln’s inauguration dinner in 1862.

It is as American as apple pie.

 

Mayor of Cork - Gerald Goldberg

That is not to say that Ireland does not have a tradition of cured beef. In a quirk of history, with a large Jewish population, spiced beef is popular in Cork. 
It is a Jewish way of preparing meat that has become a staple of Cork life, no table in Cork is without it at Christmas.

Shalom park and Mayor Gerald Goldberg, whose wife worked with my Grand-mother in Cork for special need's kids, are just part of Cork's historical and cultural fabric.
An excellent article on Cork's Jewish community can be read on historian Cllr Kevin McCarthy's blog. 

The best spiced beef in Cork is, in my opinion, Tom Durkins in the English Market

Waterford has a traditional corned beef, and that is normally also available at Toms stand.

If you get the chance, I heartily recommend you try spiced beef is in a sandwich, and with a bowl of soup ( or a glass of Midaza - a new local stout in the City) at Arthur Maynes. 

It is the perfect late lunch, a fantastic spot in Cork to soak up some of the local history, atmosphere and culture close to the English market.

Enjoy, have a great St Patrick's weekend - please do take the time to comment