Friday, August 19, 2011

Scotch Eggs, My Version


Recently I ate a Scotch egg at a local restaurant and thought it was interesting, but a bit bland. That one must have been made with simply ground turkey. That got me thinking. I did some research and found that Scotch eggs are typically deep fried and made with sausage and other spices. I chose to modify that recipe because I don't really like sausage and I thought baking would be a healthier idea. So I opted for ground pork and ground turkey in this recipe. With some added spices, it should tast awesome.

Scotch Egg Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon thyme
6 hard boiled eggs- peeled
2 eggs beaten
breadcrumbs
olive oil spray

Directions:

  1. Mix the meat and seasonings in a large bowl and divide into 6 even amounts.
  2. Take a portion of the meat and roll into a ball. Insert the egg and surround the egg evenly with the meat.
  3. Dip each ball into beaten egg, covering well.
  4. Roll in bread crumbs and place on baking sheet sprayed with olive oil.
  5. Spray each ball lightly with olive oil.
  6. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 min turning once at 15 min until golden.





Thursday, August 11, 2011

Gooseberry, Blueberry, and Plum Pie



My son bought gooseberries the other day and having never eaten them, didn't know that they are super tart and almost inedible. So, I decided to make them edible. I made a pie. I don't make pies, so of course, I opted for the Pillsbury roll out crust.


But the inside ingredients were mine. It ended up very soupy but very good. Next time I'll use tapioca as a thickener instead of cornstarch. Once I perfect this recipe, I'll post it. For now, pictures.



Thursday, August 04, 2011

Crab Cakes a la Summer


Sometimes recipes are born out of necessity. When I mean necessity, I'm talking about that it's 5pm and I realize I don't have certain ingredients and need to figure out some substitutes, fast.  These are crab cakes that would usually be constructed with the recipe on the side of the can of crab combined with a few online recipes, but alas, it's way different this time. I realized I didn't have celery or any kind of parsley, cilantro or mint, so apples stepped in for the crunchy and what the heck, I added some lime juice and some unsweetened coconut for an added twist. The result was a hint of sweetness that went along with the spiciness of the Sriracha sauce. The apple bits that were on the outside got carmelized. What more can you ask?

Here's the recipe:
1 lb can of crab meat
3/4 cup of Panko crumbs
1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes
juice from half a lime
1/2 an apple - diced
3 large cloves of shallots sliced small
1 tsp of Sriracha
2 Tablespoons of mayo
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
salt to taste - about 1/4 teaspoon
2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 egg

Mix all of the above in a big bowl. Form into crab cakes or even burgers, your choice on size and fry on medium in a pan with the bottom coated in Canola oil until the outsides look golden brown.