Tag: puff pastry

  • Emergency Sausage Rolls

    Emergency Sausage Rolls

    Have you ever been so busy torturing your husband with a glue gun that you just didn’t have time to prepare your dish for the neighborhood potluck? Well in such an occasion these are great to have in the freezer. (I didn’t actually try freezing these, but I bet they’d do ok).

    These savory homemade sausages are fragrant and sweet from the fall flavors of apple, caramelized onion, sage and warm spices, and are wrapped in puff pastry, the harried housewife’s best friend. They’re fantastic with mustard, and were a hit with our household if you don’t count the two year old who thinks he’s a fruitarian.


    Illustration by Helene. Also, I am such an Alison.

    Emergency Sausage Rolls

    Makes 40 rolls. You can easily half this recipe, or do what I did and make 20 rolls and just eat the leftover sausages by themselves for breakfasts

    • 1 pound ground beef (pork or lamb would also work)
      2-3 tablespoons flavorless oil, plus more for frying
    • 1 large onion, chopped
    • 2 cloves garlic, grated
    • 1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely chopped
    • 1 teaspoon garam masala, or mixture of spices such as cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cumin, black pepper, etc.
    • 1 packed tablespoon sage, finely chopped
    • 1 1/2 pieces bread, well toasted and crumbled into breadcrumbs
    • salt to taste, I used a teaspoon and then another good pinch
    • 4 sheets puff pastry, partially thawed
      small amount flour for rolling
    • 3-4 egg yolks, beaten
    • kalonji/nigella/onion/black seeds or sesame seeds for sprinkling

    Heat oil on medium high and fry onion until it is well caramelized completely golden, being careful not to burn. In a medium bowl, combine onion, garlic, apple, garam masala, sage, breadcrumbs and salt, then combine the mixture with the beef.

    Heat a small amount of oil on medium high. Take palmfuls of the meat, roll and shaped into long sausage shapes. Fry in batches, rolling over after a minute or two, until they are browned on all sides and cooked through. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

    At this point, preheat oven to 350°

    On a floured board or counter, roll out the puff pastry. Slice each sheet lengthwise. In each half, line sausages down the length of it and roll it all up, placing on a cutting board seam-side down. Brush with egg yolk, sprinkle with seeds, and cut into 1 1/2 inch rolls (about 5 small rolls from the long roll). Place on prepared baking sheets about an inch apart and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.

    Serve warm with mustard.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 16: Orphan Black in which Diana and Carrie discuss amazingly talented Tatiana Maslany, emergency freezer food, powdered donuts, seestra babka, sardines, GMO’s and which clone are you?

  • Three Cheese Pastizzi

    Three Cheese Pastizzi

    This month’s MENA Cooking Club country is Malta, hosted by Yasmeen of the lovely blog Wandering Spice.

    Malta is a sun-drenched archipelago in the Mediterranean. It’s gorgeous, and seems almost otherwordly; it’s thought to be the home of the lost city of Atlantis, as well as Calypso’s cave from the odyssey.

    These pastizzi are a common street food – puff pastry with fillings such as ricotta, curried split peas, or ground meat. I had just made a lasagna to take to my friend who just had a baby, so it seemed perfect to use the leftover ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan to make these little bites. I used store bought puff pastry as I’ve not yet been brave enough to attempt my own, but that made these extremely quick to whip up, which makes them the perfect low-maintenance tea snack or appetizer.

    I’d definitely make these again, and I’d love to try some of the other fillings, or add some herbs to this one. Next time I’ll pinch them shut a little tighter so the filling doesn’t escape, and probably do an egg wash too for a nice golden color.

    Three Cheese Pastizzi

    • 1/2 cup ricotta
      1/4 cup grated mozzarella
      1/4 cup grated parmesan
      salt & pepper
      2 sheets puff pastry, partially thawed

    Heat oven to 400°. Mix together cheeses and season with salt and pepper to taste. With a ring cutter, cut each sheet of puff pastry into 9 rings. Fill each ring with a heaping teaspoon of the cheese mixture, then pinch the edges together and twist the ends to make little oblong pouch shapes.

    Place evenly on a prepared baking sheet and cook 17-19 minutes (start checking around 15 to make sure they aren’t getting too brown. Mine took 18) until golden brown. Cool slightly and serve warm.

    If you want to become a pastizzi master and make your own puff pastry, here’s a great little video for inspiration, complete with song about pastizzi!

    Photograph of the azure window Stuart Brampton Photography