Easy homemade sausage rolls with apple and fennel really are just the best. Despite what you may think, they are really easy to make and actually fairly quick. They're great if you wake up, for example, and fancy one for lunch or is you get a call that a friend is popping round later. Honestly, these will make you a lot of new friends!
If you want to see how I make my sausage rolls, pop over to my Instagram page and click on the Sausage Roll highlight: https://www.instagram.com/my_metal_baking/?igshid=NGVhN2U2NjQ0Yg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
For the sausage rolls, you will need two lined baking trays and a pastry brush.
Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC fan.
Ingredients: (see tips at end of recipe)
200g Sausage Meat
1 Apple, cored, peeled and diced
1-2 Cloves Garlic (optional, chopped)
2 Tsp Fennel Seeds
2 Tsp Thyme
1 Batch Puff Pastry
1 Medium Egg, beaten
Sesame Seeds & Fennel Seeds to decorate
How I make my Apple & Fennel Sausage Rolls:
First make the sausage mixture by putting the sausage meat, chopped apple, garlic, fennel and thyme into a bowl and mix well with your hands. You can test for seasoning by frying a small tablespoon of the mixture. However, there is no need to pre-cook this bowl of sausage meat beforehand. Put aside while you prepare your pastry.
Take your pastry out of the packet and stretch it into a larger rectangle. Don't roll it out otherwise you will lose the layers. Cut it into two equal long halves.
Take half of the sausage mixture and roll it into a sausage shape, placing it neatly into the middle of one half of the pastry rectangles.
Using a pastry brush, egg wash one edge of the pastry and then fold the other side over to meet the egg washed side. Make sure the two edges meet and stick together.
Using a fork, ensure the edges are nicely secured. This also adds a nice decoration.
If, however, you prefer not to have a 'side seam' you can tuck the join of the pastry edges underneath by turning the sausage roll over.
Cut your long sausage roll into smaller chunks - it's up to you how large you want them.
When ready, place them onto a lined baking tray and then egg wash all of the visible pastry. Score each sausage roll (which allows steam to escape during the baking process) and then sprinkle with sesame seeds and fennel seeds.
Bake for c.25 minutes at 180ºC fan.
Goes really well with a cup of tea!
Sustainable and avoiding waste tips:
If you only want to have a couple of sausage rolls and not a huge batch, before you egg wash and decorate the rolls, pop them into a Tupperware and place them in the freezer for a later date. When you want to bake them, defrost and bake as per instructions. Just check timing as the puff pastry may become a little sticky when it defrosts. This is also a great tip if you have an event and want to prepare ahead!
Instead of using baking paper which gets discarded after every bake, why not use a baking mat or a washable baking liner. I use these ones (not an ad; I paid for mine)
For the sausage met, you can purchase this from a butcher otherwise simply buy normal sausages from your supermarket and remove the outer casings.
Shop-bought puff pastry is perfectly OK for this recipe!