PICNICS: 'ARTISAN' SCOTCH EGGS, lower-fat, lower-cost. make ahead, portable

Scotch Eggs that are actually healthier and better for you?  You bet!

1st posted 2017; updated 6/2025

Desk Picnic: Healthier Scotch Eggs 
(with no-recipe tomato, raw mushrooms & cooked pea salad with yoghurt-mayo) 
'This was a great Scotch Egg; it really did not taste low-fat at all --it was full of flavour, good and oniony.' 20-something Fijian-Aussie taster

If you've sampled the wonderful Artisan Scotch Eggs sold in high-end delis, you'll know how delicious they are.  But also how expensive and calorific.  Nearly £5 is a lot for sausage meat wrapped around an egg, however high quality the ingredients.   

67 has created Skinnier Scotch Eggs that look and taste like the real Artisan thing -- but with greatly reduced fat levels and at lower cost. Though they cannot be classed as frugal, the Skinnier Scotch Eggs come in at 1/2 the usual price.

The trick is in using minced turkey or chicken (the best you can afford).  Dress it up with pastrami or ham hock or spiced beef and a single low-fat high-meat beef or pork sausage, sharply reducing the amount of preservatives.  Don't think you need to deep-fry the eggs to get that wonderful crunchy coating; spraying the breadcrumb layer with olive oil before baking has the same effect.  

The Scotch Eggs can be prepared a day a head.  One problem with cooking them in this healthier way is that the yolk is unlikely to retain that cheffy runniness.   67 reckons that's a small price to pay and the thrown together creamy mix of tomatoes, peas and raw mushrooms compensates.

For anyone with health issues, these Skinnier Scotch Eggs will no longer be a forbidden treat -- though obviously they are not for everyday or even every week.  For everyone, they'll make a tasty and satisfying portable lunch or picnic with a salad on the side. 

Cost: £5'ish, depending on meat
Makes: 4 Scotch Eggs

Ingred:
   200gms/8oz minced poultry 
     50gms/1 3/4oz finely diced cooked ham hock (frugal), or sliced ham (not frugal) or pastrami or spiced beef
    1 venison, wild boar or beef sausage, skin removed
    1 tsp Dijon or wholegrain mustard
    3/4 tsp dried nutmeg
    1/2 tsp celery salt (opt)
    1/4 bunch chives or 1/3 bunch spring onions, finely chopped
     
    4 raw eggs
    
    1 beaten egg 
    handful of flour
    3/4 cup breadcrumbs (home-made or Panko; 67 made spelt breadcrumbs)

Method:

1. Place raw eggs in a pan; cover with cold water; bring to the boil, reduce heat slightly; cook 3 mins 
2. Drain eggs, place in ice water or run under cold tap till cool
3. Rap the bottom and top of egg on a board; gently roll until shells are cracked.  Carefully peel. Refrigerate. 
4. Mix turkey, ham/pasgrami & sausage meat, mustard, nutmeg & chives or spring onions, ensuring all ingredients are evenly distributed; use a light hand
5. Season with plenty of coarsely ground black pepper & a bit of salt if not using celery salt; divide mix into 4 equal sections 
6. Set up three wide bowls; in the first put a couple of handfuls of flour; the 2nd, the beaten egg; the third, breadcrumbs
7. Lightly flour the board, press down on one meatball with a fork or fish slice until 1/8 inch thick
8. Lift and wrap gently round an egg, pinching the edges together
9. Roll in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, pressing crumbs on if necessary. Repeat with the other 3 eggs.  (The eggs can now be covered & refrigerated until the following day.) 
10. Pre-heat oven to 375f/190c/170fan/gas 5
11. Place eggs on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper
12. Spray eggs generously with olive oil (opt)
13. Bake 20-25 mins

Tips:

• If you liked this you will probably also like: Healthier Sausage Rolls & Healthier Spanakopita
• Make your own breadcrumbs by drying out stale bread in a low oven then whizzing in a food processor 

More Skinnier Food on NavBar: Recipes 11

        

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This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission. 

            

PICNICS: HEALTHIER LOWER-FAT TASTY SAUSAGE ROLLS, Packed lunch, Portable

A healthier twist on a perennial favourite without loss of taste or texture...

Skinnier, Healthier Pigs in Blankets with Mustard-Maple Dip

'The best sausage rolls I've ever had!' 'Truly low-fat? I wouldn't know it.' Tasters

These skinnier, healthier made-from-scratch Sausage Rolls are low in fat & preservatives but incredibly tasty - and they are so easy to make.

The filling consists of low-fat poultry, a solitary high-meat venison or boar sausage and a bit of ham.  The flaky pastry -- a one-bowl two step wonder -- is high in cholesterol but is rolled thin to keep fat to a minimum.  

The flavour of the meat and the texture of the pastry is so superb -- and satisfying -- portions can be kept small.

The sausage filling can be made a day or so in advance but the pastry needs to be made on the day.  

Serve with Maple-Dijon dip.

Cost: £3
Makes: about 22 1 1/2 inch/3 cm pigs in blankets

Ingred:
   
   Sausage: 
       7oz/200 gm minced turkey or chicken thigh
       1 3/4oz/50gm ham hock or sliced ham/pastrami, finely diced
       1 venison or wild boar sausage, casing discarded
       1 generous tsp wholegrain mustard
       1/2 tsp nutmeg
       1/2 tsp celery salt (opt)
       1/4 bunch chives or spring onions, finely chopped
       scant 3 tbsp warm water

   Pastry:

      7 oz/200 gm self raising flour
      1/4 tsp salt
      finely grated zest of lemon or orange (opt)
      at least 250 ml double cream

      1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tsp water (freeze whites for meringues)

  Dipping Sauce (It's quite hot) (opt)
       60% Dijon mustard
       40% Maple Syrup  

Method:

1. Using a fork and a light but thorough hand, mix all sausage ingredients thoroughly; this can be made a day in advance
2. Before baking: preheat oven to 400F/200c/180fan/gas6; 
3. Cut a piece of greaseproof paper to fit baking tray; set paper aside and put tray in oven to heat up
4. Prepare pastry: put dry ingred in bowl; add zest if using; stir  
5. Make a well in the ingredients; add cream
6. Dump onto a lightly floured board; the mix should hold together as you work it but a bit more cream may be needed
7. Roll the dough as thin as you can to form a rectangle
8. About 2in/4cm in from the long edge, place a roll of sausage meat about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, bring up the pastry and tuck tightly round the meat; roll just until the pastry forms a cylinder and the seam is underneath.  Trim.  Repeat until sausage runs out; save leftover pastry for Cinnamon Twists or Cheese crackers  
9. For a treat, make individual slices 1 1/2 inch/3 cm wide; for a party; bake as a sausage; when cool, cut into one inch/2cm piies
10. Brush with egg; using oven gloves, bring the hot tray out of the oven, cover with greaseproof paper; arrange sausage rolls so they are not touching 
11. Bake 20-25 mins
12. Cool on tray 10 mins; move to a cooling rack
13. For Dipping Sauce, blend mustard and maple sauce
14. Can be served warm or at room temperature with dipping sauce on th side 

Comments:
'Amazing! Low-fat food that's interesting; these are as good as Waitrose posh.  I would be afraid to serve these - they'd go so fast.  Nice to see green in the filling.  Really good mustard dip - strong but not overwhelming.' Middle Aged Political Agent
'These are truly low-fat?  I really liked them; they weren't boring and didn't feel heavy.  The dip was both hot and cool.'  20+ fund raiser 

Tips: 

• If this is your kind of thing, you'll probably also like Healthier Scotch Eggs and Lower-Fat & Salt Spanakopita
• This recipe was first posted in November 2016 as Skinnier Pigs in Blankets/Sausage Rolls

More Skinnier Food on NavBar: Recipes 11

Please leave a Comment in the box below

         .

This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission. 

HEALTHIER PICNICS: HOT DOGS WITH NO-SUGAR VEGAN RELISH, Low preservative, Easy

American hot dogs have become a favourite English picnic food...

A hot dog picnic with Make-ahead Easy No/low Sugar Homemade Relish
Photo shows Tivali veggie dogs in Light wholemeal Spelt rolls. 

first posted 2016

...and the English have developed various strategies to enhance their enjoyment. 

Nowadays when healthy eating is all the range, high-meat beef or pork frankfurters are popular, as are lower-fat chicken or increasingly, vegan franks.  Vegetarian frankfurters* which the blogger discovered in Israel are recommended but in the west, high-end vegan frankfurters are apparently being developed alongside increasingly popular meatless burgers.

Whatever their origin, frankfurters/hot dogs are best eaten warm.  Try these methods:  

• place the dogs in wide-mouthed thermoses and cover with hot - not boiling - water; drain at the picnic site OR
• wrap the frankfurters in buns and then in foil packets.  To prevent burning, wrap in tea towels before placing them on the car engine while travelling to the picnic site 
• cook over a campfire; load a young branch with the dogs and grill over the flames (it's probably best to have jumbo dogs for this)

Traditionally, hot dogs are served with a strip of mustard, a strip of ketchup and maybe some onions fried in butter.  Fill separate squeezy bottles (from Nisbetts & department stores) with mustard and ketchup and cover the tops with cling film before screwing on the lid to prevent spills during travelling.   

Many varieties of relish - red or green - are available at various prices but most are high in sugar and additives.  

67goingon50's easy colourful, tasty hot dog relish is not.  It's a healthy treat -- tasty, crunchy and zippily flavoured -  but either no-or-low in sugar and almost preservative-free.  The relish is very easy to put together; an older child with good knife skills could do it under supervision. (Always have a first aid kit in the kitchen!)  

The recipe does use store-bought sweet & sour pickles but not in huge quantities.  To make your own, go to Faff-free Dill Pickles, which take only a few minutes to make and 3 days to 'cook'.    

67's relish the relish is a sophisticated condiment for adults. For kids being weaned off high levels of sugar, it's ok to add half a tablespoon of maple syrup. The chillis and mustard could also be reduced.  The recipe makes 1 1/2 cups; preparing two batches won't be a burden.  

Any leftovers can be teamed with chicken or cheese with a little yoghurt-mayo for a great sandwich filling.

The relish can be made in advance and keeps 3-5 days in the fridge.   

Cost: £2.00

Makes1.5 cups

Ingred:
   5 cherry tomatoes or equiv, in small dice
   3/4 tsp tomato puree, preferably low-salt
   small red chilli, de-seeded, in fine dice OR 1/2 tsp chilli flakes  
   1/2 cup bell pepper, pref green or yellow, in small dice
   1/3 cup dill pickle  (2 med in small dice)
   1/3 cup drained corn niblets
   1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients thoroughly; add cracked black pepper to taste 
2. Store in a wide-mouthed air-tight container in the fridge 3-5 days

*Tivali

Tips:

• Hot dog buns/finger rolls are sold at most UK supermarkets at good prices; pick up more than you need when they're on offer - they freeze well

Please leave a Comment in the box below

This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and can not be reproduced without the author's written permission. 

PICNICS: NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE & LIME CREAM PIE, lower-fat, portable, make ahead

Lower fat and carb 'tho not exactly healthy.  But really makes an impression... 

Not as lethal as it looks: no-bake, make-ahead and portable: Easy-Peasy Picnic Food
'Absolutely gorgeous!' 'Really lovely biscuit base.' Tasters

Chocolate and Lime Cream Pie is definitely a creamy Indulgence but using whipping cream rather than double cream and replacing some cream cheese with 0-fat yoghurt reduces fat levels. The biscuit base is kept thin to reduce carbs while keeping portions small limits damage but not pleasure.   

67 developed the Chocolate and Lime Cream Pie to be a no-bake, easily portable treat but paper plates/bowls, spoons and serviettes are a must.

It can be made the night before.

Cost: £4.00 +  depending on how many ingredients you have to buy 
Serves: 18-24 (min 3 rows of 6 pieces) 

Ingred:
   300gm/10.5oz bashed or processed plain chocolate biscuits (67 used leftover chocolate shortbread but bought are fine)
    2.5-3 oz/70-90 gm melted butter

   180gms/6 1/4 oz whole-fat or 30% fat-reduced cream cheese, left out for a few hours or zapped for 20 secs in the microwave
   170gm/6oz 0-fat yoghurt strained 4 hours or overnight or 0-fat Greek yoghurt (Total/Fage pref) 
   100gms/3.5 oz white baking chocolate, melted
   1 tsp vanilla extract
   zest of 5 limes
   4-6 tbsp lime juice OR 4 tbsp lime juice plus 2 generous tbsp Cointreau
    
   300 ml whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

   Garnish: segments of lime (opt)

Method: