Making your own version of a sausage roll is easy once you have a basic recipe, accompanied by a healthy serving of vegetables or salad, a homemade sausage roll is more than okay for a family meal or to take on a picnic... with tomato sauce of course!

Ingredients

• 400 gram block frozen puff pastry, defrosted
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 carrot, trimmed and grated
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 250 grams pork mince
• 250 grams pork sausage meat
• ¼ cup sultanas, raisins or currants, chopped
• ¼ cup chopped fresh herbs (sage, parsley, thyme), or 2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs
• ¼ cup favourite chutney
• 1 egg, beaten or milk for glazing

Method

1. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured bench to an approximate 30cm x 20cm rectangle. Set aside to rest and prepare the filling.
2. Cook the onion and carrot in a dash of oil or a knob of butter in a frying pan over a low to moderate heat for about 10 minutes until well softened. Add the garlic and cook a further minute. Set aside to cool completely.
3. Mix the cooled onion mixture with the pork mince, pork sausage meat, dried fruit, herbs and chutney. Season with salt and pepper if wished and mix well.
4. Divide mixture in half and roll each half out to a 30cm sausage. Divide pastry lengthwise in half. Place a sausage length close to the long edge of each pastry piece.
5. Brush pastry edges lightly with egg wash then roll pastry over to enclose the filling firmly. Have the pastry join underneath the roll. Wet a large knife and cut the sausage roll into 5 or 6 pieces. Place seam-side down on a baking paper-lined tray.
6. Glaze then make 3 shallow cuts in each sausage roll to decorate. Refrigerate to allow the rolls to rest before baking. Preheat oven to 200ºC; place rack above centre rung. Bake for 20 minutes until golden and well cooked. Cool for 5 minutes.

Cooks Tips

- Sausage meat is usually sold in 500-gram rolls and pork in mince in 500-gram trays. So make a double mixture and either freeze half the mixture or make additional sausage rolls and freeze, ready to bake for another time. - To freeze, arrange the cut sausage rolls on a tray in one layer; cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for a minimum of 4 hours until firm. Place in a freezer bag and remove as much air as possible as air causes ice crystals, resulting in freezer-burn. Label and freeze. Defrost before baking. - If you don't have any herbs to hand, add 2-3 tablespoons dried stuffing mix instead. - Don't use savoury pastry. The cooked pastry will be heavy and raw on the base. Use puff or flaky puff pastry only. - Keep pastry cold when using. Once it becomes warm, it will be doughy and heavy when cooked, not crispy and light. - Cook puff pastry items above the centre of the oven.