Recipe developed and contributed by Maureen Gualtieri
Here’s a hearty snack you can whip up for a Victoria Day picnic – Scotch eggs in honour of a Highland-loving British queen, with a Canadian twist provided by DFC’s Maple Crunch mustard. We trialled this recipe with a Beyond Meat style vegetarian sausage – any brand will do, as long as it has a “raw” texture that is easily mashed and formed, and firms up when cooked. (Real pork sausage should work too; feel free to adjust depending on the diets of your guests.) Enjoy your eggs dipped in hot sauce, barbecue sauce, or plenty more of our mustard!
Spiced Vegetarian Scotch Eggs
(Yield: 4)
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
300-400g vegetarian Beyond Meat type sausage
2 heaping tbsp DFC’s Maple Crunch mustard
1/ 2 tsp dried thyme
1/ 2 tsp dried ground sage
approx 1/ 2 c. all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1 c. (approx.) panko crumbs
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place your flour in a shallow bowl. Roll each of the boiled eggs in the flour, tap off the excess, and set aside.
In a medium bowl, mash all the sausages until the “meat” is well broken up. (Remove any of the sausage “skin” if necessary.) Add the sage, thyme, and DFC’s Maple Crunch mustard, and mix everything together until it’s all evenly combined. Divide the mixture into four, and take one of the quarters and gently form it into a patty of even thickness. Pick up a floured egg and place it in the middle of the patty. Carefully form the edges of the patty around the egg, nudging the sausage mixture around until the entire egg is covered in an even thickness of sausage. Repeat for the rest of the eggs and set them aside.
Pour your beaten egg and panko crumbs into two separate shallow bowls. Roll each Scotch egg first in the egg, then in the panko, making sure all of the surfaces are covered. (If the sausage layer is soft and getting out of shape, you can keep re-forming it into an even shape through this step.)
Gently place the eggs on a baking sheet covered with parchment, or a baking sheet and rack combo. Pop in the oven and bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until the sausage layer is cooked through and the breadcrumbs are a golden brown.
Serve warm or cold, with lots of extra DFC mustard for dipping!