Weekend Foodie: Roll up, roll up with festive sausage rolls
Sausage rolls always appear as a festive snack in my house at this time of year! Since my kids were small, they have loved a few warm ones as part of the Christmas feasting.
- 1 ready rolled puff pastry sheet, defrosted if frozen
- 6 meaty Cumberland sausages
- ½ tsp garlic powder (optional)
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
- Squeeze lemon juice
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tbsp Branston Pickle
- 125g Brie, sliced thinly
- Unfurl the puff pastry sheet and place it flat onto a floured boar. Halve it vertically.
- Split the skins of the sausages and place meat in a bowl. Add garlic powder if using, thyme, lemon juice and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Mix the seasonings into the sausage meat with your fingers until well blended.
- Make a layer of Branston pickle down the centre of each half of the pastry sheet.
- Divide brie slices between each sheet, laying on top of the pickle.
- Finally, divide sausage meat in half and layer this on top of the brie on each sheet.
- Dampen the pastry edges of one roll with water and fold one side over the filling to the other side, pressing down the sausage meat as you go.
- Crimp the dampened pastry edges together by pressing down with the prongs of a fork or pinching between thumb and forefinger. Repeat with second pastry sheet to make two rolls.
- Brush rolls all over with beaten egg. Cut each roll into 4 pieces to make 8 sausage rolls.
- Lay rolls on greaseproof on a non-stick baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven, Gas 4 180C 350F for 20 minutes or until the pastry is risen and golden and the sausage meat is cooked through.
- Serve them warm from the oven, or cool the rolls on a wire rack then store in an airtight tin.
- 4 large fresh free range egg whites
- 225g caster sugar
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1 level tsp cornflour
- For the topping:
- 300mls cream
- 2 easy peeler mandarins or clementines, peeled and segmented
- 400g can black cherries, drained
- milk and white chocolate stars
- icing sugar for dusting
- 25g milk chocolate, melted
- few fresh rosemary sprigs
- Pre-heat the oven to Gas 3 170C (140C for fan assisted).
- Whisk egg whites till stiff peaks form.
- Gradually whisk in the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, till the mix is shiny, glossy and holds a firm shape.
- Mix cornflour with the vinegar and whisk in.
- Line baking sheet with baking parchment. Use a 25cm/10 inch dinner plate to mark out a circle on the parchment.
- Spoon the egg whites all around the edge of the circle in a ‘wreath’ shape, leaving an empty space in the middle.
- Pile up the sides with the egg white and swirl it around.
- Smooth along the top of the circle to flatten slightly, leaving swirly edges round the sides.
- Pop the meringue in the oven. Turn down the oven temperature to Gas 1 140C (120C for fan assisted) and bake for about an hour, or until set and crisp.
- Turn off the oven and leave the meringue inside to dry out as the oven cools. This is best done overnight. (Once cool, it will keep for a couple of weeks, wrapped and stored in an airtight in a tin)
- When ready to serve, whisk the cream to thick peaks.
- Pop your wreath onto a serving plate or board.
- Spread the cream on top of the wreath and put a dob in the circle in the middle, but don’t fill it right up.
- Scatter mandarin segments and cherries around the top of the wreath. Tuck chocolate stars into the cream in the centre. Arrange sprigs of rosemary around wreath.
- Finish off with a dusting of icing sugar then drizzle with melted chocolate.
In our house, sausage rolls can often make an appearance on Christmas Eve, as part of a late-evening casual grazing buffet.
This is also the time when the first bottle of bubbly of the Christmas celebrations gets cracked open.
This year, I’ve found bubbles that will go with these flavoursome sausage rolls, and whatever other savouries you might be having, like a charcuterie board, cheeses and nuts.
Kooliburra Australian Sparkling Shiraz is made from the spice-laden red grape we all love from Australia, but it comes with all the cork popping razzmatazz of a traditional sparkling wine.
Chill this in the same way you would chill a white sparkler, when it takes on a cool edge of freshness alongside the big bold fruit and that characteristic touch of spice Shiraz always displays.
A very unusual bubbly to get the party going, and well worth a try at just €9.99 a bottle in Aldi stores.
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