Southwestern Scotch Egg

Now, we may be cheating, as a Scotch Egg has its roots in 18th century England (specifically Whitby, Yorkshire). However, as a family, we've fallen in love with British breakfast because it was a staple growing up. We are blessed to have family from the UK, plus Father Edwards was attached to a British Regiment while in the US Army. A cuppa tea, a fried slice and baked beans are definitely on the menu for weekend breakfast.

The Scotch Egg is a meal on to itself, we prefer it with a bit of baked beans and a fried slice.

• INGREDIENTS: serves four

• 4 eggs

• 1 pound of pork sausage

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 4 cups panko bread crumbs, seasoned with paprika, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• Quart of frying oil

• Arugula for garnish

• Fancy mayo or a mustard aoli

• PREPARATION:

• Soft boil the eggs - basically don't over-cook

• (Rule of thumb is to cover eggs in a sauce pan, bring to boil, then cover and remove from heat for 10 minutes. Introduce them to cool bath and peel. Eggs should have a nice give to them.)

• Taking the pound of sausage, split in fourths, and flatten each fourth in your hand to a dish until you have sufficient size to cover the egg.

• Take each peeled egg and work sausage around it until evenly dispersed. Rolling it back and forth between hands until you have the shape of the egg works for us. Be gentle!

• Lightly roll the sausage encased egg in the flour for an even coating, shake off excess.

• Then, coat with beaten egg and roll in panko plus season mixture. (A hint: this recipe does well for the 'wet hand, dry hand' approach - keep one hand on the dry ingredients and one had with your wet ingredients - keeps things clean.)

• After coating all four Scott eggs, have at least an inch of oil boiling in a pan and introduce all four eggs at the same time .

• Cook evenly on all sides until you get a nice browning on all sides, ensuring the sausage is cooked thoroughly.

• SERVING:

• Resting after it cooks is generally a good idea, but don't allow them to overly cool.

• Slice eggs lengthwise right before serving, then place on a bed of arugula and serve with mayo or mustard. We also like to serve with a sprig of rosemary from our garden for an additional profile that compliments the sausage.

• A nice Earl Grey with plenty of condensed milk and you'll feel a might British!