Caramelised onion, apple and pork sausage rolls

Name: Caramelised onion, apple and pork sausage rolls
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Ingredients: 250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting; fine sea salt; 150g cold, unsalted butter, cubed; 2 tsp white vinegar; 100-125ml iced water

Julia Busuttil Nishimura

September 27, 2024

If you don’t want to make your own, substitute with good-quality, store-bought, all-butter puff pastry.William Meppem

easyTime:1-2 hoursMakes:6

The humble sausage roll gets a makeover with the addition of caramelised onion, apple and toasted fennel seeds, the sweetness of the apple (I like to use a tart Granny Smith) and onion cutting through the richness of the pork. The home-made rough puff pastry really is something special and only requires a little bit of time to create the flaky layers. If you don’t want to make your own, substitute with a 375g sheet of good-quality, store-bought, all-butter puff pastry (such as Câreme’s).

Ingredients

FOR THE ROUGH PUFF PASTRY

250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
fine sea salt
150g cold, unsalted butter, cubed
2 tsp white vinegar
100-125ml iced water

FOR THE CARAMELISED APPLE AND PORK FILLING

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, halved and finely sliced
1 apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
500g pork mince
50g breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tsp fennel seeds, toasted and crushed
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg, for egg wash
tomato sauce, to serve

Method

Step 1
To make the pastry, mix the flour and a good pinch of salt together in a large bowl, then use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour. Don’t overwork it: some larger, flat pieces are helpful in creating the flakiness. Drizzle in the vinegar and enough of the iced water to just bring the dough together (you might not need all of the water). It will still be shaggy, but should hold together when pressed and not be dry or floury.
Step 2
Flatten into a square about 3cm thick. To create layers in the pastry, cut the square in half and stack one half on top of the other. Use your hands to press the pastry dough into another square again, about 3cm in thickness. Repeat this once more. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Step 3
Meanwhile, make the filling by warming the olive oil in a frying pan over a low-medium heat. Cook the onion with a pinch of salt until softened (7-8 minutes), then add the apple and continue to cook until the apple has softened and the onion has caramelised. Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool. Add the remaining filling ingredients, season well and mix thoroughly using your hands. Set aside.
Step 4
Preheat the oven to 190C fan-forced (210C conventional). Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside. Whisk the egg with 2 tsp of water for the egg wash and set aside.
Step 5
On a lightly floured board or work bench, roll out the pastry to a 35cm square that’s about 2.5mm thick. Cut the pastry in half so that you now have two “landscape” rectangles arranged on the bench in front of you. Place half of the pork mixture along the bottom of the long side of each rectangle in a sausage-like manner, then repeat with the remaining filling and the second rectangle.
Step 6
Brush the upper long side of each rectangle with egg wash, then, working with one rectangle at a time, roll the pastry over the filling and press to seal, trimming off any excess pastry. Cut each cylinder into three pieces. Prick the sausage rolls with a fork a few times and transfer to the prepared tray. Brush with the egg wash and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden and puffed. Serve hot with tomato sauce.