In London, one amazing thing you can treat yourself before brunch is a Scottish Egg. It’s basically a hard boiled egg, wrapped in sausage and deep fried. It’s an amazing snack to have with your Bloody Mary. I was thinking of a version of the famed Gramercy Tavern meatball that could be served at parties as a nighttime treat with cocktails — so after a lot of tries, we came up with this hearty lamb, veal, cheese hors d’oeuvre.
- 2 pounds freshly ground lamb, 1 pound freshly ground veal, both meats mixed together
- 1 pound of fontina cheese cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 cups of minced yellow onion
- 1 cup of finely chopped red onion
- 1 tablespoon of finely chopped rosemary
- 2 tablespoons of finely chopped thyme
- 2 tablespoons of dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons of paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes that have been ground in a herb blender or finely chop the spice with a knife
- 3 tablespoons of salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
- 2 cups just grated parmesan cheese. You can chop in blocks and drop in the food processor or blender.
- 1 1/2 cups of panko breadcrumbs that have been mixed with two tablespoons of heavy cream
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 6 tablespoon of roasted and mashed garlic (roast garlic cover with olive oil at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, reserve olive oil for cooking, mash softened garlic)
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
The Tools
- Large Staub dutch oven
- Candy theromometer
- Blender or food processor
Making It
- Sauté the onions in the melted butter over medium heat with the rosemary, thyme and oregano for 2 minutes
- Add the paprika, red pepper flakes salt and pepper until translucent, about 8 minutes
- Take off heat and cool in the refrigerator as you don’t want to mix hot ingredients with the cold meat
- Add the cooled onions to the ground meats and mix in the parmesan cheese, panko breadcrumbs, eggs, and garlic puree, flake with a fork until all the ingredients are properly mixed
- Roll lamb mix into larger than usual meatballs with a block of fontina in the middle of each one, around 1 1/4 inch, place on baking sheet and let sit for 20 minutes to allow the flavors to connect
Time to Cook
- Heat the oil to 360 degrees
- Fry in batches of 8, for five minutes
- Let the temperature get back to 360 degrees between each batch
- Let rest for 5 minutes on paper towels and serve on a bed of marinara sauce sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan cheese
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