Spicy Pork & Fennel Sausage Rolls

I was never a big fan of sausage rolls until I worked at Bibi’s in Dublin. It turned out to be my last and best full-time chef job before I became a full-time recipe developer. There are a lot of badly-run restaurants and people who don’t respect their staff in the food world, but Bibi’s are not among them! They are lovely people who make lovely food.

They are known for their sausage rolls. This is not their recipe - even if I had kept it I wouldn’t share that- but it was something along these lines.

Bibi’s sausage rolls are served with salads for lunch, but I most often make these for dinner. I always make extra and freeze some for later. My husband and I like to eat them with sauteed vegetables and a side of hummus.

I make my own puff pastry and would encourage you to do the same. If you’re already taking the time to make sausage rolls, why not make them extra special. My go-to is Claire Saffitz’s. She has this technique where you use a mix of grated butter and finely sliced butter and it yields a nicely layered, flaky puff every time.

Makes 4-5 sausage rolls.

For the sausage mixture:

1 clove garlic, roughly chopped

20g parsley, roughly chopped

1 tsp fennel seeds, freshly ground

1 tsp smoked paprika

3/4 tsp flaky sea salt

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

60g full-fat Greek yoghurt

400g minced pork

1 large piece of puff pastry

1 egg, beaten, for brushing

A sprinkle of mixed sesame and nigella seeds

Place the garlic, parsley, fennel seeds, paprika, salt, and chilli flakes into a small blender and blitz until the parsley is in small flecks.

Put the yoghurt into a mixing bowl. Scrape in the blitzed parsley mixture and stir to combine.

Then add the minced pork and gently incorporate. If you overmix it you will have tough sausage rolls, so I tend to use a fork to chop it in before gently mixing with my hands, making sure that everything is combined but aiming to have the original minced meat texture largely unchanged.

Lay the sausage meat along one long side of the pastry, about 2cm from the edge. Brush the edge with a little egg wash and fold the top over. Crimp the edges together with a fork. **

Brush the sausage rolls with the remaining egg wash and lightly sprinkle with seeds. Score some vents in the top to let steam out.

Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 4 or 5 lengths and place these onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

(You can freeze the sausage rolls at this stage. Place the baking tray into the freezer for several hours, until the rolls are hard. Then remove into an airtight bag).

To bake, preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden brown all over.

** To make individual rolls, like I have done in the photo, divide the meat mixture into 4 or five ovals, and leave about 2cm of pastry at the top and bottom of each one. Brush the egg wash all around, cut with a knife at the top and sides, and give every edge a good crimp with a fork.