French Scotch Egg

Don't you love when you find something delightful and unexpected at the grocery store?  I stumbled across some ground free-raised veal at a really good price, and decided I had to give it a try.  I know a lot of people have problems with veal, and I also have some reservations, but free-raised calves are able to enjoy a normal life before their slaughter, which what is important to me.  Bonus: the meat from happy healthy babies is typically leaner.  The only problem with impulse-buying ethical veal is that I don't have very many veal recipes because I so seldom come across veal I would buy.  And ground veal further complicated it.  I found a lot of meatball recipes that called for a blend of veal and some other meat, but it was such a bummer to come across such a rare find and then blend it to make something more or less ordinary.  Then I found "croquettes de veau surprise" in Cooking in a Castle: La Cuisine dans un Château (written/compiled by William I. Kaufman, published by Bonanza Books, 1965).  For people (like me) who don't really speak French, that would be veal croquette surprise.  As I was running it past my husband, he looked at me and said, "Oh, it's a Scotch egg." So apparently the French enjoy it, but the Scots made it famous.  Maybe?  Either way:

Croquettes de Veau Surprise

6 eggs, hard-boiled

melted butter

dash cayenne
1 Tbsp finely chopped chives
6 pitted ripe olives
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
3/4 veal stock
Ground (or fresh-grated if you have it) nutmeg (to taste)
Ground thyme (to taste)
1 1/2 C minced cooked veal
1 tsp grated (or finely chopped) onion
1 tsp minced parsley
1 C dry breadcrumbs
1/4 C grated cheddar cheese
2 eggs, beaten

Halve the eggs the long way, and scoop out the yolks.  Mash the yolks with melted butter to make a paste.  Season to taste with cayenne and blend in chives.  Stuff the olives with the yolk mixture, then place them inside the egg halves.  Stuff the egg halves with the yolk mixture, too, and stick the eggs back together.

Make a roux of the butter and flour, then gradually add the veal stock, stirring so the mixture remains thick.  Season to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and thyme.  Remove from heat, and add the veal, onion, and parsley.  Spread out in a wide dish and chill until firm.  (Spreading it out isn't strictly necessary, but gives it more surface area for the heat to escape from, decreasing the cooling time.)  Once firm, divide into 6 portions, and mold a portion around each egg.

Combine breadcrumbs and grated cheddar.  One at a time, roll the coated eggs in the breadcrumb mixture, dip them in the beaten eggs, and re-roll them in the breadcrumb mixture.

Deep-fry at 390˚F for 2 minutes until lightly browned.  Serve immediately, garnished with parsley if desired.

The trick to this recipe is timing.  Hard-boil the eggs a day before, or first thing in the morning, to make your life easier.  The recipe is arranged conceptually, form the inside to the outside, which is ultimately how you have to build it.  However, due to chill times, it actually makes sense to make up the veal and roux mixture before you start halving and stuffing eggs.  And be sure to leave yourself time to preheat the oil for frying, especially if you (like me) don't have a fryer, and have to carefully heat, take temperature, and adjust.  And although they're best fresh out of the oil (like everything fried), they'll be fine if you need to do them up one at a time, and hold them to serve.  Just try to keep them warm and covered, and place them on paper so the oil can drain off a bit.

These are filling-- the recipe suggests two per serving, but I think I only ate one.  Luckily, they actually save decently.  They're flavorful and fun, too, and the way they're constructed gives them wonderful textures.  The roux softens again during the heat, and the breadcrumbs become crispy, so you bite into crispness, then tenderness, and finally a firm egg.  My husband thought they were fantastic.  I think he ate most of the leftover eggs.