Cheat’s gourmet sausage rolls

Who doesn’t love a sausage roll? They are a party favourite. Honestly, I am partial to a sausage roll and this cheat’s recipe would have to be high on my list of ‘easy’ meals to make.

I had some gourmet pork sausages from the butcher left over recently (how on earth did that happen?!). I stripped them of their skin and added a few extra bits and pieces and voila! Sausage rolls.

Makes 16-20.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
• 3-4 dried apple rings, finely chopped
• 8 gourmet pork sausages
• Handful of fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 sheets butter puff pastry (I used the Pampas brand)
• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan-forced. Lightly grease 2 large baking trays with some olive oil.
2. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add the chopped dried apple. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until soft. Turn heat off and leave to cool.
3. Snip the skins and peel the sausage meat into a bowl, add the apple mixture and thyme and season with a little black pepper.
4. Sprinkle the work surface with a little flour and lay out puff pastry sheet. Cut the pastry in half lengthways. Divide the sausage meat mixture into two. Put half of the sausage meat down the middle of a piece of pastry and shape into a long sausage.
5. Brush 1 long edge of the pastry with beaten egg. Fold the edge that does not have the egg on it over the sausage meat and press the pastry edges together. Seal and roll over so that the seam and excess pastry are underneath. Repeat with the other half of sausage meat and pastry.
6. Cut each roll into 8-10 short sausage roll lengths (about 4cm each). Cut a small slit in the top of each sausage roll, brush with beaten egg and transfer to the baking tray. Chill for 15 minutes, then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool before eating.