My local church just up the road did a lovely Christingle service and I provided some warming refreshments for children and parents.
The homemade sausage rolls seemed to be an absolute favourite, so here are some tricks to create a good sausage roll:
– As always, my mantra of: high quality ingredients give better taste, applies here too.
– I used Cumberland sausages, as they already have some good flavour on their own. The trick to skin them is: hold them under a tap with cold running water and they’ll just slip out of their skin.
– Unroll good quality buttery puff pastry, and then put the sausage meat in a line unto the pastry as if you had one continuous sausage. Sprinkle a god pinch of chopped parsley on top
– Then sprinkle with ground fennel seed (top tip: fennel and pork go really well together!)
– Close the pastry by folding it over, then use a fork to seal the overlap and paint with egg yolk or egg wash.
– Cut into the size needed, depending if it’s a roll for children or for an adult picnic and put on tray lined with backing paper.
– At this stage you could freeze them and use them within a month or put them into the oven and bake until golden brown and puffed up. (If you created really fat rolls, make sure they’re cooked through, as is always important when cooking pork meat).
