Delicious Sausage Rolls

Homemade Sausage Rolls Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 2lbs of good quality sausage meat
  • 2 tablespoon of fennel seeds, crushed
  • 2 tablespoon of dried coriander
  • 2 heaped tablespoon of mixed herbs (thyme, marjoram, parsley, oregano, sage, basil)
  • Approximately 20 fresh sage leaves, very finely chopped
  • 2 red onion, very finely chopped
  • 2 egg, whisked
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2lbs block of shop-bought puff pastry
  • Flour, for dusting
  • Egg wash (egg alone, no milk)
  • Mixture of poppy seeds and sesame seeds

Instructions:

Combine sausage meat, crushed fennel seeds, dried coriander, mixed herbs, chopped sage leaves, and chopped red onion thoroughly.

Add in the whisked egg and mix well. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Set mixture aside.

Prepare a well-floured surface. Slice the puff pastry in half and roll one half out into a long strip, about 10 centimeters wide and a few millimeters thick.

Place sausage meat along the length of the pastry. Do not overload the pastry with the meat; maintain an equal ratio of pastry to meat.

Fold the pastry over the meat and seal the edges with a fork.

Cut the roll into preferred size. If you wish to freeze the sausage rolls, do this at this point.

Apply egg wash over the sausage rolls and sprinkle a mix of poppy seeds and sesame seeds on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for about 25 to 30 minutes, until they're golden brown.

Note: Monitor the rolls as they bake, indications that they're ready include a golden-brown color and a heavenly aroma filling your kitchen. Experiment with portion size and meat-to-pastry ratio to find your preferred balance.

Transcript

[00:00] I once made 150 of these for a party and I watched as they were eaten within 3 and a half minutes. Which is flattering but I didn't get one! Let's make homemade sausage rolls. I first developed this recipe back in 2006 and I first published it on my food blog in 2011. And to this day, it is my most requested recipe.

[00:21] I know I say this a lot, but you are going to love these. 500 grams of good quality sausage meat. Don't worry if the sausage meat already has flavouring in it. Pork is such a robust meat, it's almost like you can't add too much flavour. A tablespoon of fennel seeds, crushed.

[00:40] Fennel and pork meat are a marriage made in heaven. A tablespoon of dried coriander, A heaped tablespoon of mixed herbs. The mixed herbs in this case are thyme, marjoram, parsley, oregano, sage and basil. Approximately 10 fresh sage leaves, very finely chopped. One red onion, very finely chopped.

[01:03] One egg, whisked. You now have to combine these all together really, really well. I like to get stuck in so I use my hands for this. I find it easier to get everything mixed really well together. A healthy dose of salt and pepper.

[01:19] You can now set this to one side while we get the pastry ready. A 500 gram block of shop-bought puff pastry. A well floured surface. Cut the block in half, put one half to one side, whilst you roll the other half out into a long strip. You want the pastry to be about 10 centimetres wide and just a couple of mil thick.

[01:41] Using a fork as it's easier to handle, Place the sausage meat along the length of the pastry. Leave a bigger gap along this side as we're going to pull that pastry over to this side. Don't overfill the pastry with the sausage meat. I quite like an almost equal amount of meat and pastry. I don't like them to be too meaty otherwise it just feels like a mouthful of sausage meat.

[02:06] I like the ratio to be equal. There we go, ready to wrap up. Close the sausage roll by pulling the pastry over the top. You now want to seal the edges of the pastry with a fork. It's at this point that we get to decide how big we want our sausage rolls to be.

[02:22] At this time of year we just want them as little snacks so I'm going to cut them into bite-sized sausage rolls. If you want to freeze your sausage rolls then you would do that at this point. Put them on a tray like this flat get them into the freezer and once they're frozen you can put them individually into a bag and keep them until you're ready to bake them. However we're not doing that today it's very very cold and If I pick my children up from school with hot sausage rolls, yeah, they can be bribed. But they're not quite ready.

[02:52] We have to finish them off. Don't skip this bit. It adds a crunch and a texture and a taste that really elevate these sausage rolls. If it's possible to elevate a sausage roll. I think it is.

[03:03] We're going in with an egg wash, egg on its own, no milk. I then use a mixture of poppy seeds and sesame seeds and sprinkle those over the top of the sausage rolls. Sprinkle fairly liberally. Bake these in a preheated oven at 180 degrees centigrade for about 25 to 30 minutes. Keep an eye on them, you'll know they're ready when they're a golden brown and your kitchen is filled with the smell of heaven.

[03:30] I defy you not to eat one straight from the oven.