Etty’s Sausage Rolls

The ultimate Christmas canape — serve with drinks, or with pickled shallots and crisp celery as a snack any time. Makes 12. They freeze brilliantly: bake, cool, freeze, then defrost for an hour and warm through in a hot oven for 5 minutes.

Ingredients

Quick flaky pastry:

• 110 g plain flour
• 75 g block butter, well chilled
• pinch of salt
• cold water to mix (2–3 tbsp)

Filling:

• 225 g good quality pork sausagemeat
• ½ medium onion (or 1 small), finely chopped
• 2 rounded tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves (about 10 g)
• salt and freshly milled black pepper

To glaze:

• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Make the pastry

1. Sift the flour110 g plain flour and salt into a large bowl.
2. Grate the chilled butter coarsely into the flour110 g plain flour, pausing occasionally to toss the gratings in the flour110 g plain flour so they don’t clump.
3. Add cold water a tablespoon at a time, cutting it in with a knife until the dough just comes together. Don’t overwork it.
4. Shape into a flat disc, place in a polythene bag, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. Prepare the filling

1. In a bowl, mix the sausagemeat, chopped onion½ medium onion (or 1 small), finely chopped, sage, and seasoning until combined.
2. Divide into two equal portions and roll each into a log about 30 cm long on a lightly floured surface. Set aside on parchment.

3. Assemble

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan. Line or lightly grease a large baking sheet.
2. Roll out the chilled pastry into an oblong roughly 30 x 20 cm.
3. Cut the oblong into two strips, each 30 x 10 cm.
4. Place one sausagemeat log along the centre of each strip.
5. Brush beaten egg1 egg, beaten along one long edge, then fold the pastry over the filling and press to seal as firmly as you can.
6. Turn each roll over so the sealed edge is underneath, and roll lightly to neaten.

4. Cut and bake

1. Use a sharp knife to cut each roll into 6 pieces, each about 5 cm long.
2. Snip three V-shapes into the top of each roll with scissors.
3. Brush all over with beaten egg1 egg, beaten.
4. Place on the baking sheet and bake high in the oven for 20–25 minutes, until deep golden brown.
5. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5. Serve

• Serve warm as a canape with drinks, or alongside pickled shallots and crisp celery.
• Freshly baked on Christmas Eve is hard to beat, but they reheat well from frozen.