This weekend I have hit the kitchen like i have never before :D So far I've made :
*Sausage rolls using Mr Willows sausages and this time made my own 'rough' puff pastry - it roughly follows the same recipe i used for the 'picnic for a king' post back in Feb.
*Millionaire's shortbread - we've started a syndicate at work, which isn't going very well as we keep forgetting to buy the lottery tickets!? Hopefully this will suffice.
*Pizza Dough - a great thing to have a the freezer for a quick fab pizza!
*Lemon Drizzle - turns out Kim at work has been wanting me to bring one of these into the office for ages - so this one's for you kim! :)
As I've made quite a few things I'm gonna have to put them over a couple of posts. To start of we'll start with the Mr Willows Sausage Rolls.
Rough Puff Pastry:
300g Plain / rice flour
A pinch of salt
150g chilled butter cut into cubes.
For the filling:
25g Butter
1 large red onion
1 tbsp brown sugar
6 large Mr Willows Pork & tomato sausages
a handful of brown bread crumbs
Seasoning
Method:
To make the pastry, mix the flour with the salt, then add the cubed butter and rub together until evenly mixed. Add just enough iced water (8-10 tablespoons) to bring the mixture together into a fairly firm dough.
Shape the dough into a rectangle with your hands and, on a well floured surface, roll it out in one direction, away from you, so you end up with a rectangle about 1cm thick. Fold the far third towards you, then fold the nearest third over that (rather like folding business letter), so that you now have a rectangle made up of 3 equal layers (see photos). Give the pastry a quarter-turn, then repeat the rolling, folding and turning process 5 more times. Wrap the pastry in cling film and rest it in the fridge for about 30 minures, up to an hour.
Whilst the pastry is chilling you can start on the filling. Also pre-heat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
Take the onion and cut into quarters then slice very finely. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onion and sugar. Cook slowly for around half an hour until they've turned caramel-ly and golden. Pop on a plate and allow to cool. In another bowl put the handful of breadcrumbs (slice of bread whizzed up) and then slice the sausage down the center and pop the meat out into the bowl. Add the cooled onions & seasoning, then squigg together.
On a floured work surface, roll the pastry out into a big rectangle as thick as a pound coin and cut it length ways into two long, even rectangles. Roll the mixture into sausage shapes with your hands and lay along the center of each rectangle.
Mix the egg and milk and brush the pastry with the mixture, then fold one side of the pastry over, wrapping the filling inside. Press down with your fingers or the edge of a spoon to seal the join.
Cut the long rolls into the sizes you want and space them out on a baking tray. Brush with the rest of the egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until puffed, golden and cooked through.
