Franz Ferdinand’s Evil Eye Scotch Eggs

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Some people get a freak out of it, Some people won’t see what it can see, Some people want to eat what it sees, Come on people eat an evil egg with me – The Gourgandines

OK guys, we know what you’re thinking : we already made a Franz Ferdinand’s special treat like 2 weeks ago. That was BEFORE we heard about the Climax festival in Bordeaux (#climaxrules). Guess who’s coming to town? Yes, you smart pretty thing, you’re right : ~~Pete Doherty~~ ~~La Femme~~ ~~Morcheeba~~ ~~The Kooks~~ our favourite Scottish band (at least for now). Since we are going to see them in a few days, we thought that our infamous Franz Ferdinand’s Black Whisky Waffles were just an apetizer. And anyway, this is OUR space, we never said this blog was going to be a democracy… So Scottish dessert part II, here we go. We usually focus on 1 album or 1 song or 1 artist for 1 recipe, but this time we went up for the full package with all three at once. Our inspiration :

https://youtu.be/IIR5vBiC3ig Get it twisted the Gourgandines way, and a classic Scottish recipe becomes an amazing (and scary. and tasty) trompe l’oeil.

Franz Ferdinand’s Evil Eye Scotch Eggs

For 4 glorious eggs

Step 1 : Fresh Strawberries Heart

Rider 150g strawberries, fresh burst of ripe red strawberries 2 gelatin leaves 2 tbsp elderflower liquor, you can mix kirsch or gin with elderflower syrup. As always Ikea’s got your back. Chocolate egg mould / ice cube mold Red gel food coloring (optional)

Hydrate the gelatin leaves by placing them in a bowl of water.
Crush the strawberries with a fork. They’ve been really, really bad…
Add the elderflower liquor
Heat it in a tiny saucepan, add the rehydrated gelatin.
For a more dramatic effect, put a few drops of red gel food coloring (yeah, RED, ya bastard !).
Pour your jelly evil eye into the mold and place it in the fridge from 2 to 15 hours, depending on how long it will take you to overcome this recipe.

Step 2 : Dark Chocolate Shells

Rider 300g dark chocolate Easter egg molds

Cut the chocolate into small pieces.
Melt it gently in bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
Pour spoonfuls of melted chocolate into each mold, spread it gently with a pastry brush.
Place the mold in the fridge for about 20 minutes for the chocolate to set.
Repeat the process three times.
Unmold the egg halves. Delicately. If it breaks, you’re fucked. It’s still time to consider making our black waffles instead.

Step 3 : Genoise

Rider 4 eggs 125g white sugar 125g flour A few drops vanilla extract Red gel food coloring (optional)

Pre-heat the oven at 180°C.
Combine the eggs, white sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
Whisk constantly with an electric mixer until it triples in volume. It will grow all fluffy and lighten in color.
Remove the bowl from the pan and keep whisking until the preparation has cooled down.
If you want to obtain the “Right thoughts, right words, right actions” cover pink color, i’ts time to add a tinyyyyy touch of red colouring.
Sift the flour over the mixture and carefully fold it in with a spatula.
Gently pour it into a cake ring or a cake tin #mypresssssious.
Place the genoise in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
Unmold right away and allow it to cool down on a baking rack.

Step 4 : Strawberry Bavarois

Rider 250g strawberries, fresh burst of ripe red strawberries 3 egg yolks 40g white sugar 15cl whole milk 3 g gelatin leaves 15cl heavy cream at least 30% fat content

Hydrate the gelatin leaves by placing them in a bowl of water.
Put the cream in a medium bowl and place it in the fridge.
Take your strawberries . This time, they deserve no mercy. Blend them with a bit of sugar until smooth.
In a saucepan, bring the milk to simmer.
While the milk is heating, don’t waste your time, lazy fool. Take a medium bowl and whisk the egg yolks and sugar together.
Gradually whisk hot milk into the yolks and sugar mixture. Return custard to saucepan. Whisk constantly over medium heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and leaves a path when you swipe a finger accross it.
Congrats, you’ve just made a crème anglaise. 🎉
Add the gelatin.
Take the bowl containing the cream out of the fridge, whisk it manually or with an electric mixer depending on how bold you feel. Whisk until your cream reaches stiff peaks.
Congrats, you’ve just made whipped cream.🎉🎉
Once your creme anglaise cools down to room temperature, carefully add the strawberry coulis and whipped cream making sure you don’t ruin your efforts by overmixing it.
Congrats, you’ve just made a delicious strawberry bavarois. 🎉🎉🎉

Step 5 : Almond-Oat-Honey Granola

Rider 200g oat meal 200g crushed almonds 4tbsp honey

Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well.
Spread it heavenly on a baking tray.
Bake it for 10-15mn until it reaches a beautiful light brown toasted color

Step 6 : Assembling the freaking egg masterpiece

Rider 8 chocolate shells 8 fresh strawberries hearts 1 genoise Strawberry bavarois Homemade almond-oat-honey-granola 10 Scottish shortbreads 100g dark chocolate

It’s time to take a deep breath, a meditation class or a shot of vodka. Or maybe the 3 of these.
Place the chocolate shells back into their mould then carefully cover them with pieces of genoise.
Heat 5cl elderflower liquor (or your homemade mixture of gin and elderflower syrup).
Moisture the genoise with the warm liquor using a pastry brush.
Fill up your egg halves with strawberry bavarois. Eat the removed bavarois. Watch out not to overfill your shells, remember you have to be able to combine them to obtain beautiful scotch eggs.
Place them in the freezer for 30mn to allow the bavarois to settle.
Dig the bavarois with a spoon to make some space for the evil eye fresh strawberries heart.
Place the eggs back in the freezer for another 30mn.

The crucial moment : it’s time to combine your egg halves to allow the magic of trompe l’oeil to happen.
Take a deep breath, a meditation class or a shot of vodka. Or maybe the 3 of these.
It’s now wayyyyyyy too late to consider our black waffles so get yourself together and don’t mess up!
For the 2 parts of an egg to stick together, heat a baking sheet and then place the edges of the two halves on it for a few seconds, then gently push the edges together.
If you have a little blank space or your 2 halves don’t perfectly stick together, don’t freak out. Melt some extra chocolate and apply it with your finger.
Almost done sweetie! 😊
Now the fun part : decorate your masterpieces to make them look like real traditional Scotch Eggs.
Melt the chocolate, allow it to cool down to room temperature.
Add a thin layer of this melted chocolate to your eggs with a pastry brush and sprinkle some granola.
Proceed a few inches at a time.

Crush the shortbreads, spread it heavenly on a baking tray and bake it at 200°C until fully brown.
Let sit until cool then roll your eggs into this breading.
To perfect the trompe l’oeil effect, you can serve the eggs with a fresh herbs salad made with mint, basil and verbena.