Sausage rolls

Thursday, December 17, 2009

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Using onion salt instead of onion in the sausage meat stops the pastry going soggy. The expert who taught me the recipe for these sausage rolls (my very talented mother) showed me that adding a little water to the tray makes the puff pastry a little bit puffier. I find the supermarkets often sell low quality sausagemeat so I tend to buy their finest sausages, which have a higher meat content.

Ingredients

• 4 good quality thick pork sausages
• 2tsp finely chopped fresh sage
• 1tsp mixed herbs
• Pinch onion salt
• Pinch garlic granules
• Salt and pepper to season
• 1 ready rolled pack puff pastry
• Egg yolk
• Splash of milk

Instructions

1. Cut the sausages open and mix together with the sage, mixed herbs, onion salt and garlic granules then season the mixture with salt and pepper.
2. Lay out the puff pastry on a floured pastry mat.Leave room at the bottom of the mat to roll the sausagemeat.
3. Divide the sausagemeat out into thirds. Roll out one of the thirds into a long sausage on the floured mat, making it the same length as the pastry’s longest side.
4. Gently lift the sausagemeat roll onto the pastry and gently fold the pastry over tightly and seal the edges together with a little water.
5. Take a knife and slice close to the join, but not too close or the roll will fall open! Gently roll the sausage roll over so the join is at the top and again fold and smooth the edge down with a little water. Roll around again so the the join is at the bottom and push down.
6. Take a paring knife and slice 4cm wide slices down the roll, ensuring the knife is clean between slices.
7. Lay them out on two well greased baking trays and tidy up the sausage rolls by making them more rounded and tucking all the sausagemeat and pastry back onto the ends. Then take a pair of scissors and snip two triangles in the tops of each of the sausage rolls.
8. Mix the egg yolk and the milk together and wash over the tops of the sausage rolls with a pastry brush.
9. Drip about 1/2 tsp water onto the baking trays and run around the edges of the tin.
10. Put them in the oven at 220C then turn down to 200C after puff pastry starts to puff (about 3 minutes), and cook for a further 8 minutes until golden brown.
11. Remove from the baking tray, using a table knife to gently lift any that have stuck, and cool on a wire rack.
12. Beware of stray fingers as they taste delicious warm!

Categories: Nibbles, Snacks | Tags: pastry, pork, sausage