Thai Sausage Rolls
Hello September! It appears I’ve been a total blog slacker through August… I blame it entirely on my palette having an Autumnal if not downright Winter bent, and my cooking preferences with it. Which means it’s just about time for me to start cooking up a storm here again 🙂 So for the first time in ages, I spent a whole day in the kitchen happily testing new recipes, much to Hubby (aka The Chief Taster!)’s delight!
To get the blog ball rolling again I’m going to start with the good old sausage roll, but with a twist.
I’m lucky to have the most awesome butcher, Crombies, at the end of my street whose sausages are seriously in a different league to supermarket-bought. And not just the quality of the sausages but the wonderful variety of different flavours, they really do have one to suit every mood 🙂 So when I saw this recipe with its oriental flavouring I knew that no ordinary sausage would do and got myself down to Crombies on Friday morning (before work no less!). Sure enough, they had a batch with ginger and mango that sounded perfect.
Sausage rolls are my buffet downfall, posh or ‘narsty’ they always seem to hit the spot. And Christmas isn’t Christmas without at least one batch of them to snack on while watching Love Actually (don’t judge me!). But Christmas is a little while away still… so when I found this recipe on the Good Food channel’s website the Thai twist gave me a perfect excuse to indulge myself out of ‘season’.
I was not disappointed!
These have a deliciously spicy hit which marries really nicely with the fresh coriander, and the crushed peanuts add a lovely crunchy texture to the otherwise flakey buttery pastry. I can totally see me rustling up a batch of these to serve with drinks the next time I have friends round for an Oriental supper. Or for hubby ‘just because’ if he asks me nicely, which he always does 😉
- 50g skinless peanuts
- 250g pork sausage meat
- 1-2 tbsp Thai red curry paste, depending on how much spice you like (we found 1.5 tbsp perfect)
- 1 large handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- 375g ready-rolled puff pastry
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp milk
- butter or oil for greasing
- chilli dipping sauce, to serve
- 1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve
- waxy baking parchment
- mixing bowl
- pastry brush
- baking tray
- food processor, or a ziploc bag and a rolling pin
- CSI style vinyl gloves!
- Put the oven on to 190C/Gas Mark 5 and grease a baking sheet with a little oil. Put the peanuts in the food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped OR pop in a ziploc bag, zip up, and bash to bits with the rolling pin for a bit of stress relief 😉
- Lay the pastry out flat on a lightly floured surface, or waxy baking parchment, and cut horizontally right down the middle so that you have two long strips. Mix together the egg yolk and milk to make an egg wash, then brush the far border of the pastry with a little of the egg wash.
- Put about a third of the smashed peanuts in the mixing bowl. Add the Thai red curry paste and coriander to the bowl and then snap on the CSI gloves! Using scissors or a sharp knife, cut a slit up the length of the sausage skin and then poke all the sausagemeat out into the bowl too. Get your hands stuck in and mix it all up until everything is combined.
- Divide the sausage meat mixture in half and shape each piece into a long, thin sausage, the length of the pastry. Put one in the middle of each pastry strip, then roll the pastry away from you and up and over to seal in the sausage meat. Roll the whole thing over so the sealed edge is underneath.
- (If you’re making these ahead of time they can now be kept in the fridge for 24 hours, lightly covered with cling film, or they can even be frozen for up to 3 months and defrosted before cooking.)
- Use a sharp knife to cut into bite-sized sausage rolls, discarding the pastry ends, and score a couple of slits in the top of each one. Lift them carefully onto the greased baking sheet and brush with the remaining egg wash before scattering over the remaining crushed up peanuts.
- Pop in the oven, middle shelf, and bake for 20–30 minutes until cooked through and golden.
- Serve warm with lime wedges and lashings of chilli dipping sauce, and bask in the adulation of your loved ones!
