Sausage rolls
This is not a historical recipe, nor has any interesting story behind it. Apart perhaps of the “Mysterious case of the pastry crumbs”. It is rather strange but every time I make these rolls, somehow a trail of pastry crumbs appears to lead from the kitchen to the study. Interestingly more it stops by particular someone with innocent looking brown eyes who is as surprised as I as am to find them there. By his feet. On the floor. He would never steal them before dinner time, or so he assures me. Which leads me to believe that our apartment is hunted by a builder who died during the construction of the apartment block where I currently live. Don’t get me wrong every good household should have at least one ghost roaming about the home, however I wish that he or she would have the common decency to clean after themselves. So while I continue to contemplate the mystery at hand, here is the recipe that started it all.
Sausage rolls
makes about 25 - 30 small ones
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
400 grams minced pork
1 apple, grated (if very juicy, the excess juice squeezed out)
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
handful of parsley and chives, finely chopped
40 grams breadcrumbs
25 grams pistachios, roughly chopped
handful of dried cranberries
2 30cm x 30cm sheets of puff pastry
1 egg,
sesame seeds
Preheat the oven to 200ºC (fan).
On medium heat in a pan cook the onion until translucent (about 10 minutes), then add the garlic, cook for a minute and take it off the heat. In a large bowl mix together the meat, onion, apple, mustard, lemon juice, herbs, breadcrumbs, pistachios and dried cranberries. Divide the mixture by eye in four parts. Cut the puff pastry sheets in half so that you would get 4 rectangles. Place the pastry with the longest side facing towards you and spread a quarter of the meat mixture on it, leaving a 5 cm gap along the edge that is closest to you. Apply a little bit of the beaten egg on the gap and roll the pastry into sausage shape with the seam facing downwards. Repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling. Brush the rolls with the egg and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Cut the logs into smaller pieces and bake for around 15 minutes or until the pastry has turned golden brown. Serve hot or in room temperature.
Bon appétit,
Līga
