Sausage rolls

This recipe for sausage rolls make a tasty kid’s snack or family meal. Perfect for school lunchboxes, an after school snack or a quick family meal served with salad, these homemade sausage rolls are bound to become a family favourite.

Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 25 minutes Difficulty rating: Easy

Ingredients

Makes 16 small sausage rolls

• 500g lean pork mince (5% total fat or less)
• ½ red onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 sprigs fresh parsley (small handful)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 2/3 cup quick oats
• 4 sheets of reduced fat puff pastry
• Sesame seeds
• Olive oil for greasing

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Remove pastry sheets from freezer and place on a benchtop to thaw slightly.
3. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and brush with a little oil (so the rolls do not stick).
4. Wash the parsley sprigs and pull off the leaves.
5. Place onion, garlic and parsley in a food processor and chop until very fine.
6. In a bowl mix the onion mixture with the tomato and sweet chilli sauces and one egg.
7. Add in the pork mince and stir well.
8. In the food processor, grind the oats until they are a powdery consistency. Add to the meat mixture and stir well.
9. Cut each square pastry sheets in half to make two long rectangles.
10. Place a line of the meat mixture in the middle of each pastry rectangle, lengthways. It should take up the middle third of the pastry.
11. Gently roll pastry into a sausage roll shape. Cut each roll into 4 equal pieces and place on the baking tray.
12. Whisk the other egg.
13. Using a brush, paint the egg lightly on the top of each sausage roll. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on the top.
14. Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes until puffed, golden and cooked through.

Tips

• Serve with seasonal salad or steamed vegetables for a great family meal.
• Put in lunch boxes for children (make sure you have a cold pack in there though to stop them going off in the summer heat).
• You can replace the oats with breadcrumbs if you prefer, but you can’t taste the oats, they just absorb some of the fluid and add texture. Oats add more nutritional value than using breadcrumbs.
• Lean minced lamb, chicken, turkey or beef will work just as well if you don’t feel like pork.
• Sesame seeds can be substituted with poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or a mixture of all the seeds.
• The egg in the egg wash (used to paint the top of the sausage rolls) can be replaced with a brushing of olive oil if you prefer.
• If you find the edge of the pastry roll does not stick down very well, brush the edge with egg or oil or a little water.

Nutritional content

Nutritional analysis per serve:

References

1. AusNut. Nutrient Database. 2007. [cited 27 April 2012]. Available from: URL Link
2. Pampas reduced fat puff pastry- nutrition information. Goodman Fielder. 2012. [cited 17 August 2012.] Available from: URL Link