Say it with a sausage roll
While for some, Valentine’s weekend was spent fancifully, I spent mine very practically – baking sausage rolls for the week ahead.
Determined to embrace the Valentine’s Day vibes, here’s an idea for those of you who are not so excited by flowers and chocolates, say it with a sausage roll…
You will need:
1 packet of Jus Rol puff pastry (500g)
1 packet of Waitrose sausagemeat (450g)
1 egg, beaten
These will take under an hour, including cooking time.
Preheat oven to 200°c
1. It’s best to divide the packet puff pastry into two halves and roll each one out separately. Take one half of the pastry and roll it out into a long, thin rectangle about half a cm thick.
2. Divide the sausage meat in half. Take half and line it up on top of your puff pastry. Try and line it up so it is slightly closer to the right hand side edge of your pastry. This will mean that when you come to fold the pastry over, you have enough pastry on the left hand side to reach over.
3. Before the next step, use a very slim knife (I used a fish filleting knife) or a tiny cutter to cut out heart shapes down the left side of your pastry rectangle.
4. Use a pastry brush to brush beaten egg down the edge of the right hand side of your pastry rectangle. Pull the left hand side of the pastry over the sausage meat to meet the other side of the pastry and seal by pinching the two sides of pastry together with your finger. Use a fork to seal it further.
5. Brush the whole length of sausage roll with egg white (this makes pastry lovely and crispy).
6. Cut the long sausage roll into smaller ones using a large, sharp knife.
7. Repeat with second half of puff pastry and sausage meat.
8. Line on a grease-proofed baking tin and cook at 200°c for 20-30 minutes until pastry is crisp and golden brown.