i am a food blog

I cannot believe it, but it’s less than a week (eek!) until Easy Gourmet is released. I’m excited and nervous and all the crazy feelings. I’m one of those emotional eaters, so in order to calm myself, I’ve been doing what I do best and made myself delicious things to eat. As it is, I’m kind of addicted to puff pastry, but when in an emotional state, I’ve been known to eat puff pastry baked up, plain. Of course, that isn’t much of a recipe, so here I stuffed it with some spicy sausage to make of of my all time favourite snacks: sausage rolls.

I’ve confessed my love for sausage rolls in the past and I’m still not over them. If anything I’m even more obsessed. Last year, while visiting Australia, I noticed they were everywhere: in coffee shops, at the corner stores, and in bakeries. I had a particularly delicious pork and fennel sausage roll at Bourke Street Bakery. Sausage rolls aren’t as popular in North American and I’m not too sure why. Juicy meat tucked into a buttery, flaky blanket sounds just like my idea of heaven!

Spicy Sausage Roll Recipe
makes 18 mini rolls

• 1 teaspoon oil
  1 small shallot, minced
  1 teaspoon spicy korean seasoning, or crushed red pepper flakes
  1 egg
  1/2 pound lean ground pork
  1 tablespoon sliced green onions
  2 tablespoons panko or breadcrumbs
  1/4 tsp salt
  1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
  10 x 10 inch sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed and cut in half

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a small frying pan, heat up the oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the spicy Korean seasoning or red pepper flakes. Remove shallots from the pan and set aside to cool.

Crack the egg in a small dish and gently whisk.

In a mixing bowl, combine the ground pork, green onions, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and the cooled spicy shallots. Add half the lightly beaten egg. Reserve the other half of the egg for an egg wash. Gently combine until throughly mixed.

Divide the pork in two and arrange in a line on the puff pastry. Fold the top half of the sheet down over the meat. Brush the bottom part of the sheet with the egg wash and roll the puff pastry and meat so that the seam is facing down. Repeat with the other sheet. Cut each roll in 8 even pieces. Arrange on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake until golden brown and puff, about 35 minutes. Let cool and enjoy warm or cold.

porkpuff pastry