These are such a quick easy win for any weekday or a busy Saturday evening. I use shop bought puff pastry as in the real world any of us rarely have the time required for homemade puff pastry! Also, don’t be too worried if you don’t have a pink onion – use red / white. And if you’ve no port – substitute with red wine. And if you can’t get Montgomery cheese throw in whichever cheese you have in the fridge… Stilton is also a good cheese to try in this. The beauty of this dish is that it is robust enough to allow you to have a little play around with those ingredients that suit your cupboard! Throw in some herbs, spice them up a bit - the store cupboard is your oyster!
When I first made these, about 9 months ago now, it was for a very special occasion…my very first Great British Bake Off audition! I wanted something that would not only travel well but also taste as good cold as they do warm. I had a lot of positive feedback and when one auntie, who doesn't normally eat sausage rolls, devoured two of them, I was convinced they were special!
I’m very fortunate in that my local butchers is O’Doherty’s in Enniskillen. There they rear their own pigs on Islands in Lough Erne and I swear it is the nicest pork! I’m not a massive fan of pork as sometimes it can taste a bit ‘farm-yardy(!) but their pork is really tasty!
I’m not going to witter on just to fill a blog…off you go – make the Sausage Rolls and let me know how you go! I’d love to hear if you have any improvements or recommended changes :)
Pork, Port and Montgomery Cheese Sausage Rolls
Ingredients
500g good quality pork mince
1 pink onion (red or white will do here)
Rapeseed oil for frying
100g Montgomery cheddar (or any other strong cheddar will do, but it needs to be strong. Stilton is also a good alternative)
75ml – 100ml of port (I used Cockburns fine Ruby Port)
1 pack Jus Rol puff pastry
1 egg yolk
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175oC (fan)
2. Chop the onion into small pieces but not too finely. You want them to add a nice texture to the filling. Drizzle a heavy based pan with rapeseed oil (olive or your usual oil for frying will do here), place the onions in and cook them over a low/medium heat or about 10 minutes until softened but not blackening the pan. If the pan is starting to blacken turn down your heat.
3. One the onions have softened add the port. How much you need will depend on the size of your pan but the Port should cover the onions. Cook this over a high simmer until the port has reduced down and there is very little liquid left
4. Place the onions into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add in the pork and add a good grind of both rock salt and pepper
5. Finely chop the cheese into small pieces, or crumble if your cheese will allow you to. Place the cheese into the mixing bowl
6. Using a wooden spoon stir all the ingredients together ensuring they are fully combined. Set aside until ready to use
7. Taking your pastry, unroll it and divide it into 8 squares, cut using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife
8. Take your egg yolk and add in a teaspoon of hot water to make an egg wash. Using a pastry brush, brush on the egg yolk on one side of the sausage rolls. I normally do the side further from you as it easier to roll away from yourself
9. Using your hands, take small balls of the pork mix and shape it into a sausage shape and place onto a square of pastry, on the opposite side of where you brushed the egg yolk on to. Roll the pastry to encase the sausage mix, ensuring the pastry fold is lying on the counter (see pictures) and using the egg wash as a ‘glue’ to hold the two pieces of pastry together
10. Repeat for remaining squares.
11. Depending on the size you want your sausage rolls to be, you can leave them larger or normally I take a sharp knife and cut the rolls in two to create smaller, more bite snack size sausage rolls
12. Using a large baking tray, line with a silicon mat or greaseproof paper. Place the sausage rolls on to the baking tray. Using the remaining egg wash coat the top of the sausage rolls and place in the preheated oven for 20-25minutes until the pastry has puffed up and is a golden brown colour
Leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving!