sausage rolls

I honestly don't remember where we got this recipe... probably out of some random cookbook (actually, now that I think about it, it might have been out of this really old Women's Weekly cookbook from the 70's with the bad, bad, bad photos where all the food looks slightly radioactive)... but it's been a standard in Ma's repertoire for as long as I can remember.

I cheated somewhat with my rolls... I didn't have any sausage meat, but I did have turkey mince, so I used that instead (actually that was the whole purpose of making them, because I wasn't sure what else to actually do with the turkey mince)... and I forgot to get any eggs, so I didn't bother with the whole egg wash thing (I had planned to use a little milk though... but didn't end up doing that either). Plus I only had about half as much mince as the recipe calls for, so I only made half as much mixture.

And I know this will be much to Tom's horror, but I also added a handful of finely chopped mushrooms to the mix.

The turkey filling was interesting... a little bland in the final analysis... it might have been better if I'd added something like balsamic vinegar or soy sauce to the mix just to give it some more bite, or else gone nuts with the spices or something, but overall, they came out pretty well (especially since this is the first time I've ever made any version of this recipe).

Sausage Rolls

750g sausage mince
1 large onion, peeled and grated
¼ teaspoon mixed herbs
salt and pepper
4 thick slices of white bread
warm water
3 sheets frozen puff pastry (approx)
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon cold water

Cut the crusts from the bread, and place in a separate bowl. Pour over enough warm water to cover, and let bread stand for five minutes.

Put the sausage mince, onion, mixed herbs, salt and pepper into a bowl.

Drain water from bread, squeeze it gently to extract excess water. Add the bread to the sausage mince mixture, then mix well.

Spoon the meat mixture into a large piping bag that doesn't have a piping nozzle attached. With the pastry at room temperature, pipe the meat mixture along the edge of the pastry. Fold the edge of the pastry over the filling, then turn again so that filling is completely enclosed in pastry. Do the same on other side of pastry sheet, then slice down the middle to make two long filled rolls. Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling.

With the back of a knife, flatten rolls slightly at intervals. Brush rolls with combined cold water and egg yolk. Cut rolls into four pieces.

Put the rolls on a greased oven tray, side by side, just lightly touching.

Bake in a hot oven 250-260ºC for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to moderate (190-200ºC), and cook further 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Current Mood: