We spotted a tiny bakery deep in the Pembrokeshire countryside. It was packed to the point we couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. But the smell of bread was enchanting and the baker, whom should have retired some years ago, extremely charming…
His honesty was touching… an old Hovis bread tin filled in for a till, the opening hours were simply “9.30am if I can!” and all products hold a handwritten note of the ingredients.
Having time on our hands (the queue was not moving at all as everyone had to exchange a gossip or two with the baker) we started reading the labels. All as expected with the exception of a sausage roll, which was enhanced with antioxidants and acidity regulators… It left us puzzled. Why a humble sausage roll cannot be made without nasty E-numbers even in the old-fashioned bakery in middle of nowhere?
Back home we had decided to declare war on the commercial sausage roll and bake our own. It was heavenly: crispy, succulent, and beautifully seasoned. We originally meant to share with mum, but all the crumbs were gone before she arrived…
Ingredients:
- 250g ready made puff pastry
- 250g pork sausage meat
- 250g pork mince
- 1 egg beaten plus 1 extra for glazing
- 1 red onion finely sliced
- 1 small white onion finely sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- 100ml apple juice
- 1tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1tbsp Dijon mustard
- 4 sage leaves finely chopped
- ½ tsp salt and ½ freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp of seeds (nigella, caraway etc) – optional
Method:
Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface into a rectangular shape 5-6 inches wide by 12-14 inches long and 4 mm thick. Line a baking tray with a greaseproof paper and place the puff pastry on the top. Leave to rest in the fridge for 1h.
Preheat the oven to 200 deg C.
Heat olive oil in a pan and sweat onion and garlic for about 3min and then turn up the heat and add apple juice and vinegar. Cook until the liquid disappears and the onions and garlic are soft. Leave to cool down.
In a mixing bowl place sausage meat, pork mince, egg, Dijon mustard, sage leaves and seasoning. Add cooled onions and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are combined. Place in fridge for 10 minutes to chill down.
Remove puff pastry from the fridge. Using a piping bag, pipe the meat down the middle forming a sausage 2.5 inches thick. Egg wash the puff pastry edge and gently fold the pastry over sausage meat pressing down to seal. Crimp the edges with your fingertips or the back of a fork.
Egg wash the entire sausage roll and return to the fridge for 10min. Then egg wash for the last time and sprinkle some seeds over the top.
Bake at 200 degrees C for 25 minutes, then turn down to 180 degrees and bake for further 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and a probe inserted into the centre reaches 75 degrees C. Remove from oven and leave to rest.
Serve warm with a generous dollop of homemade Piccalilli… simply scrumptious
