What can be more quintessentially British, than a Traditional British Ploughman's Lunch. Beloved in pubs across Great Britain, it's one of my favourite lunches.
A traditional Ploughman's Lunch is more an assembly job than a recipe. It's main components are cheese, crusty bread and butter, pickles, chutney and salad vegetables.
I've taken the liberty of adding a homemade scotch egg along with a selection of cheeses in my Ploughman's Lunch. Pork pies, quiche or sausage rolls and ham are often added nowadays too.
As for the salad vegetables, I like to add tomatoes and celery to mine, as well as a crisp apple, which marries so well with the cheese. I have also added gherkins to my version of a ploughman’s lunch along with traditional pickled onions.
Ploughman’s lunch
(serves 2)
INGREDIENTS:
• 4 thick slices crusty bread such as a cottage loaf, or 2 large crusty bread rolls
• Fresh salted butter, to taste
• 40g each of Blue cheese, Mature Cheddar Cheese or Red Leicester, Goat's Cheese or Soft Rind Cheese such as Brie (total 120g per person)
• 2 scotch eggs, halved
• Pork pie, cut into quarters
• 4 large pickled onions
• 4 tablespoons homemade chutney, or Branston pickle, Pan Yan Pickle or Ploughman’s pickle
• 8 gherkins
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• 2 celery sticks
• Salt and pepper, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Arrange the bread and butter on a large Asiatic Pheasants platter or plate.
2. Arrange the different types of cheeses on the same plate. Add the scotch eggs and pork pie.
3. Add the pickled onions, chutney and gherkins on the side of the plate, along with the quartered tomatoes, and celery.
4. Make sure there is salt and pepper available, as well as some good real ale or cider - enjoy!
Homemade Scotch Eggs
(Makes 6 scotch eggs)
Freshly boiled free-range are encased in a herb & spice flavoured sausage & bread crumb “jacket” which are then deep-fried until golden and crisp, freshly made they are utterly delicious, and are perfect picnic food.
INGREDIENTS:
• 8 eggs, 2 eggs reserved for coating the Scotch eggs
• 600g high meat content pork sausages (removed from their casings/skins),or sausage meat
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped spring onions/green onion
• 1/2 teaspoon mace or 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon mixed spice (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 tablespoons plain flour
• 150g white breadcrumbs
• Good quality vegetable oil ( for frying)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Boil the eggs first - For a soft and gooey egg yolk, place 6 eggs in a pan of water. Bring to the boil and as soon as the water starts to boil, allow them to cook for 4 minutes, then take them straight off the heat and place them in cold water, to stop them cooking further, to cool quickly and to avoid a black ring around the yolk. For a hard boiled egg with a firm yolk, proceed as above but as soon as the eggs come to the boil allow them to boil for 7 to 8 minutes. Once they are cool enough to handle, carefully remove the shells and set them to one size.
2. Prepare the sausage meat coating: Add the sage, mace, salt, pepper and spring onions to the sausage meat, mix well with your hands and then divide into 6 portions. (Add the optional mixed spice at this stage if using.)
3. Prepare the flour, beaten eggs and breadcrumbs: Beat the remaining 2 eggs in a shallow bowl with a tablespoon of water and leave to one side. Put the flour in another shallow bowl or plate with a good seasoning of salt and pepper, and then put the breadcrumbs on another plate.
4. Making the Scotch Eggs: Roll an egg in the seasoned flour. Then flatten and mould a portion of sausage meat around each egg, making sure there are no gaps. Coat the sausage coated egg in the beaten egg and then in the breadcrumbs. Coat all the shelled boiled eggs like this and set them to one side. NB: Make sure you have a floured board to shape and flatten the sausage meat so it doesn't stick to the work surface.
5. Frying the Scotch Eggs: Heat about 10 cm of oil in a small, deep frying pan or saucepan (big enough to hold the 6 eggs at once or at least two or three at a time) until it is hot enough to brown a small cube of bread in 60 seconds. Fry the sausage coated eggs for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning them until they are brown all over and the sausage meat is cooked. Drain quickly on kitchen paper and leave to cool.
6. To serve: When the Scotch eggs are completely cold you can keep them in the fridge until you are ready to eat them. Or, you can eat them slightly warm just after cooking.