MeatBlog

You know the drill for kids parties; Go there, *enjoy* a few hours of screaming, shouting, crying, more screaming and then let the kids enjoy themselves. Then it’s home time avec sugar rush. Worst still it’s your party and you are the caterer!? That happened to me this weekend. Admittedly we did a combined birthday party with two other kids, so the burden was a shared one. But I was given the task of doing some of the food. Aside from the Smoked tuna, pea and mint Penne with Ricotta and 48 strawberries and cream cupcakes I went a bit further…

I thought I’d experiment, just a little bit with a new idea I’ve had for a while. So here in the *little LittleChef kitchen* I put to work a new twist on an old friend; the Sausage Roll. Let me present :

The Sausage Roll with sage, apple and Mustard.

Yes, I said mustard. You see I like English Mustard with a piece of Pork pie and I’d quite like it with a sausage roll but then you’ve got that age old decision of; mustard on the plate, or keep dipping in to the pot? Yes, we’ve all had that issue, and I’ve gone down the lazy-ass avenue of Disney for this inspiration. You see when I was a teenager I went to Florida to meet Mickey (whose no funnier in real life) and I had a hotdog there that had the ketchup and mustard cooked in the bun with the sausage. Their multi-national, commercially produced piece of shit was: Nasty.

This recipe is easier than a fumble in the hay with Minnie Mouse, and will only take you about twenty minutes.

2kg Pork sausage meat (bought mine from Waitrose – lazy I know, but WTF!)
4 x Rolled Puff Pastry
2 x Apple (one for slicing, one for grating)
1 x Onion
8 tblsp

English

Mustard
1 Egg (for egg wash)
Sage (handful) chopped
Salt
Pepper

Put the contents of the sausage meat in to a big bowl.

Whilst you are doing this peel, core and cut one apple in half and then slice thinly. If you have a rice cooker with steam tray this is ideal for semi-steaming the apple slices, if not bring a sauce pan of water (only about 150ml) to the boil and place the sliced apple in a metal colander over the pan and cover with a lid for five minutes. (N.B. this helps to soften the apple, which is important later)

Peel and grate one apple into the mix. Chop the sage and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Then get your sleeves rolled up and get stuck in with your hands. Squeeze the mixture through your fingers making sure it is all nicely mixed in. Now to get your puff pastry ready.

Dust the work surface with a handful of flour, best to make this plain flour. place the sheet of puff pastry on the flour, dust the pastry with some more flour, turn over and make sure there is a light coating so as to avoid the bastard stuff sticking to anything. Place the pastry sheet horizontal (landscape) on the work surface.

Take a big handful of your sausage mix (there is enough here to make four of these so use your judgement) and spread across the middle of your pastry sheet so that you have a nice line of meat.

Then carefully remove your steaming apples from the pan (turn off the gas and discard the water). Place a line of apple slices over your meat.

Yes I know it looks a bit odd, but stick with me on this. Then you’ll need your mustard. Take a tablespoon and smear across the pastry on each side of your sausage mix.

Now beating an egg in a bowl/cup take the bottom edge and roll over the meat. Then, using a pastry brush, apply some egg wash to the top edge of the pastry:

Make sure that you fold the ends of the pastry in on itself as this will help the whole thing to keep its shape:

Then roll the top over the meat/pastry and press the top edge to make sure it is firmly attached. Seal with more egg wash all over – once baked this will give the whole thing a nice shiny, golden coated finish.

Using a sharp knife gentle score (careful not to cut, just score) the pastry with vertical lines about every inch. Bake for around 15-20mins on 180° or until the pastry is golden brown. If you need to check the meats progress take the tray out the oven and slice in the middle, the meat should have no pinkness to it – be warned though there will be alot of meat juice so take care.

Leave to cool for a few hours and slice only once cold. Or you can serve this immediately with mash and onion gravy. Get. In.