Ever since I can remember, I’ve always had sausage rolls at Christmas. I remember my mum used to but those bags of 50 cocktail sausage rolls from Iceland which she’d cook all in one go, leave them to cool on the counter, and then shout at my brother and me each time we pinched one or two (or five) on our way past the plate.
I’ve become a bit pickier about food in general since then, and sausage rolls in particular. And I don’t think it’s that easy to find a good sausage roll. Either the sausage meat is too bland or too peppery (or that nasty cheap stuff which is smooth like pate), or the pastry is like cardboard.
So as a solution to feed my greed, I started making my own sausage rolls. And I promise you that these taste amazing and are easy peasy to make. Even better, Jusrol sent me some vouchers to buy some pastry, so these were also super cheap (although Jusrol pastry is on two for £2 offer in Waitrose at the moment). I am sure they would taste even better if you made your own puff pastry, but I think life’s probably too short, especially at Christmas.
Use your favourite sausagemeat to make these. I love Waitrose premium gourmet pork sausagemeat stuffing, but this time I tried their Christmas variety which includes sage and onion … well, it is Christmas.
Tracy’s Christmas sausage rolls
450g pack of good quality sausagemeat, 1 pack of ready-rolled puff pastry, 1 egg
Open out your pack of puff pastry and lay it flat on the counter.
Divide your sausagemeat in two, and lay out two ‘sausages’ lengthways onto the pastry.
Brush the exposed parts of the pastry with beaten egg (note that I break the egg into the empty sausagemeat container to save on washing up!).
Fold the pastry over the sausagemeat, and then roll again so that the end of the pastry is on the bottom of the sausage roll. Brush with eggwash.
Cut each roll into 8 pieces and cut a slit into the top of each sausage roll to allow steam to escape, and put them on a non-stick baking tray (I use a silicon liner in my baking tray so they don’t stick).
Bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes until the sausage rolls are golden, then cool them on a rack until they won’t burn your mouth when you greedily eat them.
