Hello Everyone! A few days ago I decided to make sausage rolls just because I wanted to. You could argue though, why go through all the trouble to make your own when you can easily just by pre-packed frozen sausage rolls from the supermarket? I guess this way you can be a little bit more creative in what you want in your sausage rolls rather than the generic minced beef that supermarkets sell. You can basically wrap any sort of flavoured sausages in puff pastry (homemade or store bought, doesn’t really matter)! For today’s recipe, I went on and made myself some Mexican Chorizo with Caramelised Onion sausage rolls.

Chorizo, for those of you who don’t know, is a name given to a variety of sausages, both fresh and cured. The two most common types of chorizos are:

• Spanish Chorizo – cured, or hard, sausage made from coarsely chopped pork. It has a deep, smoky flavour due to the heavy amounts of paprika in the spice mix. Also, it can be eaten without cooking because it has been cured.
• Mexican Chorizo – ground, rather than chopped, and the sausage is fresh rather than cured. Also, the red colour comes from the spicy red pepper rather than the smoked paprika. It must be cooked prior to eating.

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 15-20 MINS | SERVES 24 ROLLS

INGREDIENTS

For the sausage rolls

• 3 Mexican chorizo sausages, removed from casing
• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, semi-thawed
• 1 large red onion, halved and then sliced
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tbsp milk
• Sesame seeds
• Knob of unsalted butter
• Tomato sauce, to serve (optional)

For the salad (original recipe from Coles)

• 1 packet (120g) Coles brand 4 leaf salad mix
• 2 tbsp hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp white sugar
• Ground sea salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Roast hazelnuts on a baking tray for 5 minutes. Transfer to a clean tea towel and let to cool.
2. In a medium pan, melt butter and sauté onions until soft and caramelised. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Cut puff pastry sheets into 8 rectangles (halved and 4 cuts across). Add about a teaspoon of sausage meat to one end of the rectangle and top with caramelised onions. Tightly roll the pastry around the sausage meat and brush the ends with the beaten egg and milk mixture to secure. Using the tips of the back of a fork, gently press down on the edges to seal the join.
4. Space them out on a tray lined with baking paper. Brush the tops with the rest of the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until puffed, golden and cooked through.
5. Meanwhile, return to the hazelnuts. Rub to remove the skins then roughly chop. Combine the oil, vinegar and sugar in a small bowl and season with a touch of ground sea salt and pepper. Stir in the hazelnuts. Place the salad leaves in a large bowl and add the dressing. Toss to combine. Serve with fresh out of the oven sausage rolls.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx