Just so you know, I'm about to introduce you to some very naughty little sausages.
Rich, salty and deliciously crispy, my homemade sausage rolls are the ultimate kitchen floozy. Just look at them, all tarted up in their sesame seeds and buttery pastry.
They should be ashamed of themselves.
Throughout the cold months, I serve mine up with homemade chips and onion gravy, but when it's good 'n' hot outside, these little wonders of mine make for the ultimate picnic food.
You know what that means? It means homemade Oozy Floozy Sausage Rolls all year round, baby.
Once you've tried these, I promise you'll never buy the mass produced, plastic wrapped crud found in supermarkets ever again. Have you checked out the meat content in that stuff? It's frightening.
To make a batch of the little tarts, you'll need:
12 x chipolata sausages. Thick breakfast sausages will not work in this recipe, it's chipolatas or nuthin' i'm afraid.
1 x egg
1 x full fat ready rolled puff pastry (I'm a full time working woman with two cats and an overgrown man-child to feed, I do not nor will I ever have the time to create my own pastry in the foreseeable future, however if you're up for the challenge, please be my guest!)
1 x tbsp fennel seeds
3 x tbsp sesame seeds
1 x hunk of parmesan
A good handful of grated cheddar. This is optional. Although it helps to give them their oozyness (technical term), you risk a soggy bottom if you add too much. I'd recommend a light sprinkling at very most.
First up, turn the oven up to 225C, unroll your pastry on a flat surface and crack your egg into a bowl.
Give it a whisk and brush it on until it's good 'n' glossy. With a sharp knife, slice the pastry in half, lengthways. You should be left with two long strips of shiny pastry. Put the remaining egg to one side, you're going to need that later.
Easy peasy sausage squeezy. Now, it's time to get porky.
Divide your chipolatas in half and lay them horizontally, you should have six sausages slightly overlapping each other on each strip. Just make sure you have enough pastry below the sausage line to keep them tucked away in their cheesy little sleeping bag whilst they're in the oven.
Next up, sprinkle over your fennel seeds. Even if you're no great fennel fan, don't leave them out. They give the pastry a beautiful, rich taste and really liven up the sausages. Trust me on this one.
Grab your block of parmesan and grate a good wedge of it over your sausages. Really go to town with it, the saltiness of the cheese is incredibly mouth watering and delicious on the pastry. Let your little cheese spiders roam free, baby.
Now, here's where the 'oozy' comes into it. Take a small handful of cheddar cheese and scatter it over the top of your sausages. As I mentioned earlier, you don't want to overdo this step. You want gooey, crunchy sausage rolls, not soggy (but delicious) mush.
Once that's done, it's time to fold your pastry over into one big roll. It's a little fiddly, but be gentle and patient with it. The last thing you want is a hole in your pastry.
Find what works for you and stick with it. If my sausages are being a little difficult, I sometimes squish them down to make a bit more room.
Once you've managed to form your two rolls, do a small but energetic celebratory dance and grab yourself a fork. The hard bit is over. Phew. Now, you want to bind the clasp of your rolls by gently pushing your fork into the pastry.
Repeat down both sides until it looks a little something like this:
Brush over the remainder of your egg wash (you put it to one side earlier, remember?) so they're good and shiny. Now, it's time for makeup. You know the drill, grab your sesame seeds and shake it, baby!
Make sure your rolls are coated nice and evenly. I find that the sesame seeds add to the overall crunch of the sausage roll, so I like to finish off mine with an extra dusting, just for luck.
Chop each of your two rolls into 10-12 mini sausage rolls, either with a sharp knife or a pair of scissors. Lay your little campers on a lined baking tray and soak in their bald beauty. Phwoar.
Pop them in the oven and leave them well alone for around 22-25 minutes. When they're beautiful and golden, they're good to go.
Leave them on a cooling rack for a couple of minutes and immediately nibble at one. You will burn your tongue and you might even shriek in agony, but sweet baby cheesus, it is SO worth the pain.
Oh yeah, that's the stuff right there.
Supermarket sausage rolls all of a sudden seem a thing of the past, don't they?
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