A Giant Meatball Stuffed with an Egg! (or, Scotch Eggs)

"Oh my god- is that a giant meatball stuffed with an egg?!?!"  That is what Andrew excitedly asked me when he saw me making these.

They are actually called Scotch Eggs and I found the recipe in a new cookbook - Well Fed by Melissa Joulwan.  The great thing about the cookbook, besides all the awesome paleo recipes, is that she filled the pages with great looking photos.  When I saw the Scotch Eggs, I knew immediately I had to make them.  The process is easy to follow and you end up with a great tasting, protein packed meal or snack.  I didn't have all the spices Melissa recommended on hand, such as nutmeg and dried tarragon leaves, so I made some substitutions which I put in my version below.

Scotch Eggs

2lbs of ground pork

1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of allspice or nutmeg
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
1Tbsp of dried chives (I omitted this, but it still tasted great!)
1tsp of dried tarragon leaves  (I substituted with 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds)
1 Tbsp of minced parsley (from about 1/4 cup of fresh parsley)
2 cloves of garlic, minced

8 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Place a piece of parchment paper on a large baking sheet.

Mix all the spices and dried herbs together in a small bowl.

Place the ground pork in a large mixing bowl, add the spice-herb mixture, parsley and garlic.  Mix everything together until well incorporated.



Divide the meat mixture into 8 balls of equal size.  Take each ball and flatten it with the palm of your hand. Place an egg in the center and wrap the meat around the egg.  You can roll it around your palms to smooth out the meat and create a nice shape.  If it gets sticky, just wet your palms a bit.

Place the Scotch Eggs on the prepared baking sheet and bake for approximately 25 minutes.  Let it cool and then enjoy!

The recipe I followed included an option to roll each Scotch Egg in an egg wash and ground up pork rinds (to create the breadcrumb effect) before baking.  I didn't do it this time but will try that the next time I make these.

Andrew also suggested wrapping these in bacon.  That sounded really good.  If I do, I think I would let the Scotch Eggs bake for about 15 minutes and then wrap the bacon around them.  I may have to bump up the heat to 400F to cook for another 15 minutes or so.