our creative space . . . 'my mother's sausage rolls'

Greetings all,

School holidays always result in party food baking - makes the days more festive.  I've always made my own sausage rolls, not because i'm a hero, i'm righteous & think frozen ones taste like cardboard & bakeries are too expensive.  I'm visiting my sister for the day in the country & she asked if i would make Mum's sausage rolls (originally based on The Australian Women's Weekly 1960's culinary bible recipe.)  Now my big sister has NEVER asked me to bake anything (she is the effortless cook) so i jumped at the chance to impress her.

The basics are - process carrots, onions, bread . . . or overprocess if you're posing for a blog photo & Mummy has messy hands & can't press the buttons on the camera & is taking forever!!  Carrot, onion & bread need not be puree.

Add to onions, carrots & bread - some tomato paste, crushed/ minced garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, basil & whatever other herb (dry or fresh) takes your fancy.  Rosemary would be delicious, it was raining outside, so skipped fresh herbs.  Parsley makes them officially gourmet.  Really.
As i was prepared to make a dozen dozen sausage rolls, i chose 1.5kg of various minces, why not??  I had a thumping headache & couldn't be bothered to go to the butcher for sausage mince, so just squeezed mince out of sausages, da dah, SAME thing. 

All ingredients are raw, you can't taste-as-you-go, just wing it, there are no rules or quantities in  sausage roll making - mince, herbs, pastry, seasoning = hard to go wrong!!

Lay out defrosted puff pastry on lightly floured bench tops, spread sausage filling in 2 rows per sheet.  Slice down the centre of each sheet & brush centre edges with egg yolks (for sticking).  Mum used to do 3 rows per sheet, i like it a little chunkier & less explosive (if you know what i mean - meat bursting out of pastry.)

Roll up & wash top of each pastry join with egg yolk, we were generous = golden brown finish.

Slice into bite size pieces - you'll get 8-9 mini sausage rolls her strip, more if you took the time to roll the pastry sheets a little thinner.  Cleaning flour & egg yolk off benches is torture.

Bake in a hot oven.  I seem to bake everything on round pizza trays, but big square ones would be more efficient.  I also used a tonne of baking paper as they ooze a little fat.  Our oven heats unevenly, so i spin & change shelves during baking, i love creating extra work for myself.  

 Oh they are so good straight from the oven, but also freeze well.  My mother always made a triple batch, froze them for us while we were at Uni or going to night clubs & needed a snack.  She'd send my husband back to his barracks with them on Sunday nights, a piece of home & future-mother-in-law bribery to please marry the last child & take her off our hands.  I have been known at children's parties to give Daddies lolly bags filled with frozen sausage rolls for later. 
If i had more time, i would have made a delicious tomato relish - i loathe tomato sauce with a passion & no, you don't need tomato sauce with my juicy tastey sausage rolls. 

I did up a box for my sister & seeing i was off to a Tania McCartney book launch & reading at the National Library of Australia last night, smelling like sausage rolls, i popped some for her children (frozen for their lunch tomorrow) in a cute little retro box, as a foodie giftie treat.

The event was such fun, great atmosphere & i bumped into a lovely Navy wife, dear designer friends & the mother of a girl who does cross country & volleyball with my eldest.  Funnily enough we got talking, security had to march us out as alarms were sounding, the library was closed . . . it was just THAT good a launch - no one wanted to leave!!  Want to win a copy of Tania's new book Beijing Tai Tai (last day) enter here.  Good luck!!

Thanks for the gorgeous support in my last post & happy creative space invading today folks, love Posie