Herby sausage rolls

A good sausage roll should bring a smile to one’s face and have a very moreish quality: one should never be enough! A far cry from those mass-produced affairs you can buy from high street chain bakeries that are full of squidgy pink “meat”! 

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I have made these sausage rolls more herbified and also larger than I usually go for, but they can be made smaller to serve with drinks or as simple party food. They can also me made in advance and frozen, reheating gently before serving.

A real left-overs treat

One of the many joys about home-made sausage rolls is that you use ingredients that are likely to be lurking in the fridge of pantry, which is precisely what I did with this batch:

• the end bit of cheese that is slightly drying out
• the last scrapings of a jar of chutney or mustard
• an apple in the fruit bowl that needs using up………

………all are great to throw into the filling. Even sausages lurking in the freezer that need using up…..

And even the pastry is made with what is to hand: flour and butter, essentially!

Pastry

I always make my own pastry as it tastes so much better than pastry you can buy, it goes much crisper and it is considerably cheaper.

Even the king of pastries, puff pastry, can be made quite happily over an evening, chilling it between turns and going back to give it another turn during the advert breaks on tv! While it takes time, it is all really quite labour un-intensive!!

However, if using commercial pastry, go for the all-butter variety as the cheaper pastry made with oils is really quite horrid.

If you want to make puff pastry, or even a short-cut rough-puff pastry (ideal for sausage rolls), my recipe and tips can be found here.

Recipe: herby sausage rolls – makes about 8 large ones or 16 small ones

Pastry:

• 25og puff pastry: the all-butter pastry is essential if using shop-bought
• 1 tablespoon of caramelised onion chutney
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Filling:

• about 250g best quality sausages (any type), skinned
• about 40g finely grated cheese, any type!
• 1 tablespoon caramelised onion chutney, or whatever chutney you have
• 1-2 teaspoons English mustard, or Dijon if you want it milder
• 1 small onion, peeled and very finely chopped or grated
• 1 small apple, peeled, cored and either chopped small or grated
• about 3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (a mixture of sage, thyme, parsley), or 1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• a good grinding of black pepper

To finish:

• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1-2 teaspoons black onion seeds, optional

(1) Roll out the pastry to a long thin strip, about 16cm wide and 60cm long: the measurements are not precise and I go almost to the width of the work surface. Mix the chutney and mustard together and spoon or brush it down the centre of the pastry, lengthways. NB: you can cut the pastry into two, lengthwise, and roll each out to a smaller strip if preferred. You could also use just mustard or just chutney.

(2) Mix the rest of the filling ingredients together and spoon on top of the chutney/mustard strip. Pack the filling fairly tightly together.

(3) Whisk the egg and mustard powder together with a fork and brush down one edge of the exposed pastry. Bring the pastry up and over the filling to meet the other length of pastry. Press down to seal. NB: if you need to stretch the pastry a bit for it to meet, this is fine!

(4) With the seal underneath, brush liberally with the egg mixture and sprinkle over the onion seeds, if using.

(5) Cut into about 8 pieces and score the tops of each with a sharp knife: you can either go all the eway through the pastry to expose the filling or just make shallow cuts. Place on a baking tray lined with greasepoof and chill until you are ready to bake: meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 190c(fan).

NB: they will freeze at this stage, unless you are using defrosted sausages. Alternatively, you can freeze the sausage rolls once baked and cooled.

(6) Bake for 20-25 minutes until deep golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool a bit before eating.

My other sausage roll recipes:

• The very best sausage rolls!
• Chorizo and fennel sausage rolls
• Smoked mackerel rolls