Food is the language I speak. So you may ask Scotch eggs from Werda Mexican Beans? How did I end up with Scotch Eggs – and not with a traditional Mexican dish that the ingredients were shouting for? Well, the story goes something like this…

I have never tasted this specific Werda salad before, so armed with a pair of scissors and a spoon I found myself in the PnP aisle. I had to taste these beans before I could even decide on what to make… so there and then in the store I cut open a packet of bean salad and tasted it.

The salad was not as spicy as I had imaged so I decided that I needed an already spiced protein to add to the meal. What better place to look than the sausage section? The PnP “Chilli-Chimichurri wors” literally jumped into my shopping basket. Then I spotted the eggs next to the sausage display … and that is how the idea behind the Scotch Eggs was born.

The beans and sausage proved to be a delicious fiery combination for the outer casing of the warm Scotch Egg. I then baked bread to make homemade Melba toast – also using this bread for the crumbing of the egg. I served this with a warm spicy tomato salad, avocado salsa and some herby sour cream. All in all, a delicious light summer meal.

…And this, my friends is the short tale of how I came upon the Mexican Scotch Eggs – it is the kind of food that speaks my language.

Serve: 2
Preparation time: 1h45mins (including bread making)
Cooking time: 2 hours

1. Scotch Egg
150g PnP Chilli-Chimichurri wors. Meat removed from their sausage casings
150g beans from Werda Spicy Mexican Bean Salad, drained and finely crushed using the back of a fork. Retain the salad sauce as we are going to use this along with the spiced tomato salad
2 Tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1 Tbsp spring onion, chopped
2 Tbsp cake flour

Other ingredients
4 soft boiled eggs, peeled (on how to cook a perfect soft egg – see below)
1 egg, beaten
½ cup cake flour for dusting
1 cup bread crumbs (see method below)
Oil for deep frying

Method
For the outer layer: Mix all the ingredients together. Make 4 even balls and place in fridge until needed.
Prep your table. Put your flour, beaten eggs and crumbs each on a plate in this order on the table.
Take a piece of cling wrap and place it on your kitchen work surface. Lightly oil one side of the cling wrap. Take a meat ball and flatten it out on the oiled cling wrap, shaping it into an oval patty with your fingers. Remember that your patty must be large enough to wrap around the egg. Roll the soft boiled egg in flour. Place the egg in the middle of the patty. Pick the cling wrap up with the flattened meatball and egg inside and using your hands gently mould the meat around the egg from the outside of the cling wrap.
Roll the meat-wrapped egg in the flour, then in the beaten egg and then the breadcrumbs. Set aside and repeat the same process for the other three eggs.
Heat oil in a deep pot to 160 ˚C and fry each egg for 7 minutes until golden.

2. Spiced warm tomato salad
150g cherry tomatoes
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup Werda Spicy Mexican Bean Salad sauce
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper

Method
Fry the tomatoes on high heat in the olive oil for 3 minutes. They just need to scorch and burst slightly open.
Add the rest of the ingredients and heat through for another 2 minutes.
Set aside.

3. Ingredients for the avocado salsa
1 avocado, sliced in small blocks
1 Tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1 Tbsp spring onion, chopped
½ tsp olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
Large pinch of salt
Pinch of milled black pepper

Method
Lightly toss all ingredients together.

4. Herby Sour Cream ingredients
3 Tbsp PnP sour cream
1 Tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1 Tbsp spring onion, chopped

Method
Mix all the ingredients together and put in fridge until needed.

Melba Toast Method
Preheat oven to 120 ˚C.
Cut 4 thin slices of bread. Cut-off the crust from each of the bread slices.
Roll the bread slices with a rolling pin until flat and thin, and then cut the rolled bread slices in half.
Place the bread slice on an oven rack and bake for 15 minutes.
Increase the oven heat to 180 ˚C and bake for a further 10 minutes until the bread has toasted to a golden brown.
Place the oven toasted bread into an air-tight container.

Breadcrumbs Method
Preheat the oven to 120˚C.
Cut 4 thick slices of bread – here I like to leave the crust on.
Bake for about an hour or until dry.
Crumble the bread finely with your hands and place in an air tight container.

6. To assemble
Serve two eggs per person. Take one warm Scotch egg and cut this in half. Place the half cut eggs next to the whole egg. Add the Melba toast and top this with some of the warm spicy tomato salad. On the side, add the avocado salsa and the herby sour cream. Add some salt and pepper on the side of the plate.

7. How to boil a perfectly soft egg
Prepare an ice bath – using a bowl of water with ice cubes in it.
Put the eggs into a pot of cold water and bring to the boil. When your pot begins bubble (not boiling profusely) start your timing. Boil the egg for 4 minutes.
Take the eggs out with a slotted spoon and place these into the ice bath.
Once cold, carefully peel the eggs under running w