I know people don't really think of these, other than picnic food, but I think home made ones are delish, a million times better than the rubbish you buy at the supermarket and I think they are good as a starter, or a main course with salad...good for me who is constantly on a diet!
Okay, no exact science this recipe. I hard boil about 6 eggs for about 4 minutes, don't want them super hard. Run the eggs under cold water to stop the grey line appearing around the yolk.
For the sausage meat, I either use regular sausage meat or pork bangers, bung the meat in a bowl, add an egg, a little flour and lots and lots of seasoning. I also add chopped fresh sage. Squelch it through your fingers. (Note, I guess any leafy herb could be used, I have used oregano and thyme both in the meat and the crumb)
Next make the breadcrumbs. Blitz up or grate some stale bread, whatever you have. To this I had a couple of finely chopped spring onions and a good handful of rough porridge oats and again, plenty of salt and pepper.
Now get your oil heating up. I have a deep fat fryer with vegetable oil in , and I pump the heat up to 180c.
Now lay out all your bits. You need a bowl with a beaten egg in, a bowl with your breadcrumb/oat mix in a bowl with your peeled eggs in and a bowl with your sausage meat it. Tis worth it, I promise!
Now proceed to wrap the sausage meat around the cold eggs. Flour your hands to do this. It's a bit fiddly, and I like the meat quite thin, but you can have it as thick or thin as you like. Then dunk into the beaten egg, then into the crumbs. I use a deep wide jug to do the crumbing as I can jiggle the jug around without handling the egg so it stays a good shape.
Now you can dip in egg and crumb a second time if you want a really thick layer. Next, carefully into the hot oil and cook, turning occassionally, for about 10 minutes, or until deep golden brown. If you have used a thick layer of sausage meat, it is sensible to put them on a baking tray and give them 10 more mins in a hot oven, just to make sure. Do this to all of them, and hey presto, a very yummy starter, snack, maincourse dish or midnight snack.
