I fancied some sausage rolls so I checked the fridge to see what I had.
- Pre-rolled pastry – Check
- Sausages – Check
Well that’s it! Sausage rolls it is
How to Make Sausage Rolls
I could talk about making your own pastry or making your own sausage-meat but really, who has time for that? If you have sausages and you have ready-made pastry then sausage rolls are a cinch!
I’m using chicken sausages as they are what I had but you could use pork or beef sausages. Try mixing it up sometimes for a different flavour.
Preparation Guide
Roll Out Pastry
You don’t need to do this if you have pre-rolled pastry. With pre-rolled pastry you will need to still get it flat. Very cold pastry tends to crack once you’ve got to the centre of the roll – let your pastry warm up slightly before use to reduce the change of this happening.
Line Sausages up
There are two ways to do this. First is cut the pastry to the width of your sausages. This is much easier as it allows you to fit them on baking sheets as you need. This is all too easy for me as I like to make GIANT SAUSAGE ROLLS! I lay the sausages out to the width of the whole sheet of pastry.
Roll pastry around sausages
Now you need to roll the pastry around the sausage. Much easier if you are using sausage-width pastry rather than pastry-width sausages! You need to leave a small bit of excess to crimp the pastry together.
Cut Here
Using a knife, cut the pastry.
Crimp it out
Using a fork, crimp the edges down.
Milk/Egg Wash Your Sausage Rolls
you can use a milk wash if you want or an egg wash. It all depends on how many eggs I have!
Steam Slits
Lightly score the top of the sausage rolls to allow the steam to leave. You can choose this point to slice the sausage rolls into more managable (easier to bake) sizes. No-one will judge you badly for this.
Get Baked
Follow the instructions of your pastry for temps/time but I tend to put in the oven at 200 degrees C for about 20-25 minutes. If I feel it needs more cooking time them I cook them longer. Obviously if you cut into small sizes before cooking your cooking time will be reduced.
Pimp It Up!
This is your area to shine. My sausages were italian chicken so I didn’t want to go too massive on the flavours. I made 3 flavoured sausages and a ‘plain’ one.
The 3 flavours were.
- Onion Chutney
- Brie
- Sweet Chilli Sauce
Apart from the brie they are stuff I just had in the fridge anyway. The brie I fancied as I knew that it went well with a sausage sandwich so it must go well with a sausage roll!
Think about flavours that you feel go together and just try them. If you are using pork sausages, try a light spread of mustard. Or some apple sauce (go light, you don’t want watery pastry). You could take the meat out of the sausage skins and mix them together yourself in a bowl and hand form the sausage shape before you put in the pastry. If you are using lamb sausages then try adding some mint sauce to really make them ‘zing’!
There is no limit to the fillings and you could have more than one. I have had brie and sweet chilli with the sausage. Lovely.
When do you need Sausage Rolls?
I like to make them for picnics or to take round people’s houses when invited to a BBQ. There is no reason they can’t be part of a light lunch or a dinner. Sausage rolls don’t take long to make, they don’t take long to cook and they do look like you’ve put much more effort into them than people think!