expr:class='"loading" + data:blog.mobileClass'>

Wednesday 15 February 2012

scrummy sausage rolls...




This is a post about sausage rolls and how to make them extra tasty. Before I go any further I feel I must say in my defence, that it is quite difficult to photograph a sausage without it looking a bit rude. That is all.


Has anyone ever found a decent commercially-made sausage roll? Not me anyway. A recipe that calls for only a few ingredients must have the best, and that just never happens with the commercial type. Cheap puff pastry and low grade pork filling just don't cut the mustard (I also like to add mustard).

The sausage itself must be excellent. If you are lucky enough to have a butcher who makes pork sausages, those will do nicely. There are a lot of high quality sausages available now. I recently met the happy pork folk over at Oldfarm, Margaret and Alfie. Margaret told me the story of how 'Pigs happened to her'. How careless to let pigs take over one's home like that, I thought. But how clever of her to convert them to porky delights and sell them to the sausage eaters that haunt Twitter Land. I shall be having some of those for myself soon I hope. But until then I buy the best quality sausages with the highest pork content that I can find.

I prefer to use a whole sausage as the texture is usually better than sausage meat, add some favourite herbs if you like, sage or thyme are always good with pork. The puff pastry you can make yourself if you have nothing for doing, but I usually buy it. A nice tomato based chutney is ideal for the filling, I use one from Rua in Castlebar which is the chutney you would make if you were making some yourself. Mustard, sharp and smooth. Cheese, piquant and melty. All rolled together and baked until puffed up and golden, great for a quick lunch with a little salad and some extra chutney on the side.

The cutting down the middle and filling comes from my mother who had picked up some very strange habits in boarding school, but that is a story for another day.


Ingredients
A packet of ready-made puff pastry (all-butter)
8 - 12 herbed sausages sliced length-way down the centre
Smooth mustard
1oz cheddar cheese
A couple of tablespoons of good quality chutney
1 free-range egg, beaten
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Small handful of fresh thyme/sage leaves (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

Roll the pastry out (if not the pre-rolled sort) on a floured surface to a rectangle and cut in half lengthways. Paint one side of the pastry with the mustard.

Lay the sausages along both pieces of pastry and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and sprinkle with herbs. Cut your pastry to best fit your sausages. Spread the chutney and cheese generously into the cut down the centers. Roll the sausage up in the pastry to enclose.

Brush with the beaten egg and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, leave to cool slightly before snarfing.




9 comments:

  1. Would you courier these over to me while they are still warm and before another commentator stakes a claim?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love sausage rolls but I normally avoid them because of my fears over what nasties might be lurking inside them so the idea of using my own good quality sausages is very appealing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. There's nothing more delicious than a homemade sausage roll...and nothing more disgusting than a sub standard shop bought one. Yours look lovely - have you ever tried sprinkling cumin or fennel seeds on top? Soo good :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. These look and sound really delicious. It's impossible to buy a good quality sausage roll, these are definitely on my 'to try' list.
    Nicola

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love home made sausage rolls and these bear no resemblance whatsoever to the mass produced junk sold by the supermarkets. Great looking and tasting too I bet!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am wondering why I did not get to try these? They look like the best lunchtime snack every...or even a late night snack ... If one had someone to fetch them from the fridge for you. Great light in those shots. Must be Spring showing itself at last x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Do you only make delicious dishes? I'm drooling over here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. i was so excited to see this recipe, amee. here in california, my kids enjoy a cartoon called "charlie and lola" and sausage rolls are often referred to. can't wait to surprise them with these for dinner soon. thanks for sharing your recipe. i'll be pinning it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Saw this on Pinterest, and it looks amazing! I'm in Savannah, Georgia :) Thanks for this recipe.

    ReplyDelete

Say hi, don't be shy!