I make my own tasty pork filling but use shop-bought puff pastry to make these sausage rolls. The kids love having them in their lunch boxes, and they’re great for picnics!
Ready-to-eat sausage rolls are a picnic and party must-have in the UK, but here in Queensland they are not widely available in the shops. The sausage rolls I can buy in my local supermarket still need to be cooked, and the ones from bakeries cost about $3.50 EACH. So, I decided to experiment with a home-made recipe…I know all of the ingredients that go into them this way too!
Ingredients
- 3 sheets frozen pre-rolled puff pastry
- 500g pork mince
- 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
- ½-1 tsp salt
- 2 tsps dried herbs (I like to use a mix of parsley, thyme and rosemary)
- 2 eggs
Method
- Seperate the sheets of puff pastry and allow to thaw for a few minutes while you make the sausage meat mixture.
- In a bowl mix the pork, breadcrumbs, salt, herbs and 1 egg really well, then divide roughly into 6.
- When the pastry is flexible, cut each sheet in half. Place one sixth of the meat mixture along one long side of the first sheet (see picture below).
- Beat the second egg in a small bowl or cup, and brush a little (either with a pastry brush or your fingers) along the opposite edge from the meat.
- Starting from the meat edge (LOL), roll it over so that the edges overlap by about 1cm. Place your sausage roll on a lined baking tray and put it in the fridge to firm up.
- Repeat with the remaining pastry and meat, then preheat your oven to 200°C.
- When the oven is hot and the pastry is chilled and quite firm, take the sausage rolls out of the fridge and cut them to the size you’d like with a sharp knife. Each of the 6 rolls will make 2 large, 4 snack-size or 8 mini sausage rolls.
- Space your sausage rolls evenly on 2 lined baking trays, brush the tops with the remaining beaten egg and bake for about 20 minutes, until the pastry is risen and golden brown. Move the trays around during baking to get even browning.
- Cool on a rack, then store in the fridge or freezer.
Tips
To make breadcrumbs, I use the crusts of a loaf and either grate them with a box grater or tear them up and whizz them in my food processor. If I have any left over I pour them into a re-sealable sandwich bag and freeze them to use in meatballs.
If I’ve made mini ones, I pop the frozen sausage rolls straight into my kids’ lunch boxes in the morning and they are defrosted by lunchtime. For larger sausage rolls I would put them into the fridge to defrost overnight first.
Try using beef, chicken or turkey mince instead, and using different flavourings such as paprika, tomato paste, mustard or chilli.
I have made these with 500g mince and 500g vegetables (chopped very finely in a food processor or finely grated). This mix goes a lot further, so you’ll need 6 pastry sheets. I think it’s good to balance green and sweeter vegetables; the first time I made these I used more green vegetables and they weren’t as nice. Carrot, courgette (zucchini), broccoli, spinach, sweetcorn, red pepper (capsicum), mushrooms, and spring onions will all work well, depending on what your family likes.