Sausage and Vegetarian Sausage Rolls (Delia Smith)

I reckon these vegetarian and non-vegetarian (obviously - LOL!) sausage roll recipes from Delia Smith are fantastic! Both versions of sausage rolls used the same pastry recipe. True enough, Delia's quick and flaky pastry recipe is really easy to make and amazingly flaky! 

For a busy mum, this is a wonderful fuss-free recipe. I have made these sausage rolls all in advance, freeze them, bake and serve whenever my family is hungry. So easy!

They are great to eat with my homemade tomato chutney but my husband and son prefer to eat them with tomato sauce... *eyes rolled*

My husband and son are happy eating these... but with tomato sauce.

Making the flaky pastry

The vegetarian sausage filling

The non-vegetarian sausage filling

Before and after baking

Very yummy and flaky pastry! - This vegetarian one is for me :D

Here are the the recipes from Delia Smith.
(with my notes and modification in blue)

Sausage Rolls
Makes about 24

For the quick flaky pastry:
6 oz (175 g) butter
8 oz (225 g) plain flour
a pinch of salt

For the filling:
1 lb (450 g) good-quality pork sausagemeat
1 medium onion, peeled and grated
2 level tsp chopped fresh sage
1 egg, beaten
(I didn't use this)

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C) or 200°C fan forced.

The butter needs to be rock-hard from the refrigerator, so weigh out the required amount, wrap it in a piece of foil, then return it to the freezing compartment for 30-45 mins. Meanwhile sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. When you take the butter out of the freezer, open it up and use some of the foil to hold the end with.

Then dip the butter in the flour and grate it on a coarse grater placed in the bowl over the flour. Keep dipping the butter down into the flour to make it easier to grate. At the end you will be left with a pile of grated butter in the middle of the flour, so take a palette knife and start to distribute it into the flour (don't use your hands), trying to coat all the pieces of fat with flour until the mixture is crumbly.

Next add enough cold water to form a dough that leaves the bowl clean, using your hands to bring it all gently together. Put the dough into a polythene bag and chill it for 30 mins in the refrigerator. 

When you're ready to make the sausage rolls mix the sausagemeat, onion and sage together in a mixing bowl. Then roll out the pastry on a floured surface to form an oblong (as thin as you can). Cut this oblong into three strips and divide the sausagemeat also into three, making three long rolls the same length as the strips of pastry (if it's sticky sprinkle on some flour).

Place one roll of sausagemeat on to one strip of pastry. Brush the beaten egg along one edge, then fold the pastry over and seal it as carefully as possible. Note: I didn't brush beaten egg along the edge of the pastry. All I did was to pinch the edges together. Lift the whole thing up and turn it so the sealed edge is underneath. Note: At this point, I wrapped my sausage rolls with baking paper and freezable bag and stored them in the freezer until ready to use. When they are ready to be consumed, I took them off the freezer and continue the next step without thawing them. Press lightly, and cut into individual rolls each about 2 inches (5 cm) long. Snip three V-shapes in the top of each roll with scissors (I didn't cut my sausage with these V-shapes) and brush with beaten egg. Note: I brushed my pastries with milk and sprinkle them with some poppy seeds before baking.

Repeat all this with the other portions of meat and pastry.If you are going to cook straightaway, place the rolls on baking sheets and bake high in the oven for 20-25 mins. Note: The baking time for my sausage rolls are 25 mins if they are frozen and 20 mins if  they are at room temperature and all of them were baked at 200°C fan forced.

If you want to cook them later, store them uncooked in a freezer box and freeze until needed. Although you can store the cooked and cooled sausage rolls in an airtight tin, they do lose their crunchiness. For this reason I think it is preferable to remove a few at a time from the freezer and cook them as required.

Note: Using the 1 1/4 amount of pastry and 560g of pork sausagemeat, I can make 36-40 sausage rolls. I reckon the number of sausage rolls made is very much depending on how thick you can roll them and how long you want to cut them.

Vegetarian Sausage Rolls

Makes 36

For the quick flaky pastry:same as the above
 
For the filling:
10 oz (275 g) fresh breadcrumbs

(I used dried breadcrumbs and have heaps of leftover!) 
8 oz (225 g) mature Cheddar cheese, grated
1 large onion, grated
3 tbsp thick double cream

(I didn't add this) 
1 level tbsp fresh chopped herbs (chives, parsley, thyme, etc)

(I used fresh thyme, sage and oregano) 
1½ level tsp mustard powder

(I didn't add this)
pinch cayenne pepper

(I didn't add this)
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C) or 200°C fan forced
For the pastry: please refer to above sausage roll recipe.

For the filling, simply place all the filling ingredients in a mixing bowl, season well and mix very thoroughly.Then roll out the pastry on a floured surface to form an oblong (as thin as you can). Cut this oblong into three strips and divide the filling also into three, making three long rolls the same length as the strips of pastry (if it's sticky, sprinkle on some flour).

Place one roll of filling on to one strip of pastry. Brush the beaten egg along one edge, then fold the pastry over and seal it as carefully as possible. Lift the whole thing up and turn it so the sealed edge is underneath. Press lightly and cut the rolls obliquely, so that they form little diamond shapes. Snip each one on the top in three places with the end of some scissors, then brush with beaten egg. Repeat all this with the other portions of filling and pastry. 

Note: The dry breadcrumbs that I used is causing the filling to be very crumbly. Instead of following the above shaping instructions, I have cut my rolled pastry into squares and wrapped them like a triangle turnovers. 

Bake, on greased baking sheets, on the top shelf of the oven for 20-25 mins. Then leave them to cool on a wire rack before storing in an airtight tin.

Note: Using 1/4 of this recipe, I can only make 8 of these vegetarian rolls. The leftover fillings were used as cheesy-crumbly topping for my pasta bakes.

Serve both sausage rolls with tomato chutney.

Happy Baking

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