The humble Scotch egg is underrated. The description of one doesn’t sound particularly appealing and this puts many people off; but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

What makes them great is their versatility. They’re great for finger food at parties or at barbeques, wonderful for picnics and great little snacks if you fancy something different to the ever reliable chocolate bar.

If you have kids, this is an easy recipe to make in the kitchen with them; they’ll love getting their hands messy just as much as eating them.

For this recipe you could use your run of the mill chicken eggs that are in your fridge. But for something a little different, try using quail eggs; they produce a much creamier and richer taste than their chicken counterpart. Also, with them being smaller, they’re bite-sized; perfect for little mouths.

If all of this sounds too much or you would like to have a better idea of what one should look and taste like, head to Malmaison. They have a restaurant in Leeds, Manchester, London and many more locations in the UK.

Ingredients

• ·         12 quails eggs
• ·         450g of mincemeat
• ·         Stale bread (breadcrumbs)
• ·         Plain flour
• ·         Vegetable oil
• ·         2 chicken egg (1 egg yolk)
• ·         Salt and pepper
• ·         Splash of milk

Method

1. Fill a pan with water and bring to the boil, gently put the quail’s eggs in and boil them for three minutes. While that’s happening, make your breadcrumbs using the stale bread and blending it till fine. Carefully drain the boiling water from the pan and fill it with cold water to allow the eggs to cool. Once they are cold, peel the shells.
2. Next mix the egg yolk and mincemeat together in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
3. The next two steps are the fun parts. Take a handful of the mincemeat and flatten with your hands, place a quail’s egg in the middle and gently mould the meat around the egg. Do this for all 12 eggs.
4. Have three bowls ready for the next part; the first with flour, the second with an egg and splash of milk mixed and the third with your breadcrumbs. Roll your eggs in each in that order.
5. For the next part you can either shallow fly or deep fry the balls. I recommend not involving the kids in this step as the oil will be extremely hot. Deep frying provides a more consistent texture, while a shallow fry is much healthier. Once they have a crispy shell, they’re done! Whatever method you choose, remove them with a slotted spoon from the oil and drain on kitchen paper to remove any excess oil.