Sausage Rolls

What do you do with Italian sausage?  This is the question in its entirety that I googled yesterday trying to think of something to do with the two sweet Italian sausage links sitting in my fridge. I quickly crossed of the most common options:

• Sausage sub/hero/on a bun: not what I wanted, had no buns, kinda boring
• Pasta with sausage: again, just seemed boring and uninteresting for dinner, and I'm generally not a big pasta fan at all, so....
• Risotto, perhaps with spinach: I love risotto in restaurants, but never like it when I made it at home...probably due to my unwillingness to use a stick of butter and lots of cream and cheese. 
• Pizza...a worthy suggestion, but it happened to be the reason I bought the sausage (and used a link) in the first place, so going back to it seemed "cheating"...
• Hmmmmm....that's about where my ideas ended.

So, hence the google search, which pulled up lots of ideas...for sausage heroes, sausage pasta, sausage risotto.  Le sigh.  But wait!  An unassuming link promised something I'd seen mentioned many times on The Food Pornographer's website, perhaps an Australian tradition but not one I'd ever had - Sausage Rolls!

Basically, you make a meatball-ish mixture using the sausage meat, encase it in puff pastry, slice the logs into bite-size pieces, and bake them up into little pop-able morsels, serving with marinara sauce to dip.  Sounds delicious, right?  Why have I never had something so good?!  It was time to remedy the sitch.  And, I figured, if I made a giant spinach-and-veggie salad to be the major space-holder on our dinner plates, I could sneak these indulgent treats by as a side, rather than a main.  Dinner was planned!

Turns out defrosting puff pastry in the microwave is not a good idea - something I could have figured out, but didn't, and had no time to spare anyway.  Unrolling my sticky, melty puff pastry and trying to roll it out was not a fun process, boys and girls, but I made it work.  However, I think it might have impacted the puffiness of my rolls - although, thankfully,not their taste.

How did they taste? Delicious!  Mixing the sausage meat with fresh (challah) breadcrumbs, milk, onion, garlic, and seasoning kept it tender while also freshening up the flavor.  The pastry got nice and crispy, with an irresistable browned top that kept us reaching back for more.  Plus, it streched 1/2 a package of puff pastry and 2 sausage links to at least 36 appetizers, making it fairly economical.

In addition, we've got a spare log in the freezer (though had I not saved it I bet we could have eaten the whole thing), so it's an easy make-ahead and cook-when-needed appetizer. And...c'mon, pastry and sausage?  What's not to like.


Sausage Rolls
Yeild: 36-45 pieces

Stolen from a number of sources online, recreated in my kitchen with what was on hand, and enjoyed rapturously by two feasting beasts, although the number we made could easily have fed an army.

1/2 cup fresh white bread crumbs (pulse a slice or two of white bread in the food processor)
1 Tbsp milk
2 links sweet or hot Italian sausage
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
2 eggs, divided
1 tsp Italian seasoning, basil or oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (if using sweet sausage)
S&P
1/2 package (one sheet) puff pasty, thawed
Marinara sauce, for serving

In the bowl of a food processor, soak breadcrumbs in milk until all liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.  Add sausage, removed of their casings, garlic, onion, 1 egg, and seasoning, and pulse until well combined but not pulverized.

On a floured surface, roll out puff pastry into a large rectangle, about 11" x 14" or so.  Cut the rectangle lengthwise into three long, even strips.

Spoon sausage mixture down the middle of each strip, keeping it neat and away from the edge.  Gently bring sides of each strip together to enclose the sausage in a long roll, pinching ends to seal.  Place seam-side-down on a greased baking sheet, and chill until firm (10 minutes or up to an hour).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove rolls from refrigerator and brush the tops with egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 Tbsp water).  Slice each log into inch-long pieces, getting about 12 to 15 from each roll.  Space apart on the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until well browned and cooked through.  Serve with warm marinara sauce, for dipping.