Sausage Rolls with Onion Marmalade {and rough puff pastry}

 

Time for a little update:

1) I only realised 4 days ago that the wallpaper on my phone was still Christmas themed. I have changed it now. To a gingerbread house. It’s wintery, okay? Don’t look at me like that.

2) I have been eating this granola almost everyday, for breakfast or even a snack. I’ve even put it on top of porridge, which I know sounds a little weird – oats on oats and all that – but it works. I surprised myself with how quickly the first batch disappeared. However, I have since discovered that there is a secret granola eating monster in the house. I caught them with their hand in the jar. Literally. I turned my back for a second after putting the latest batch in the jar and WHAM! they were in there. I raised my eyebrows and asked what they were doing. “I noticed you had filled it up again” came the reply with a sheepish grin. Tsk.

3) I still have Christmas songs on my ipod shuffle. I only remember they are on there when I walk to work and it plays one. Typically, before Christmas it refused to play them. Now that it is January it plays one every other song. The other day it played three in a row. And no, I didn’t skip them. Is the rest of my year doomed now because I listened to Christmas songs out of season? Given that I think Home Alone 1 & 2 should be watched all year round, I really hope not. I suppose I could take them off. . . .

4) I think I may be done with sugar for a while. The combination of Christmas and then this birthday cake may have finally done me in. Yesterday was the first evening in probably at least a month that I didn’t reach for chocolate after dinner. So I am on a sugar-free break. Well, maybe a reduced sugar one. For a couple of weeks anyway.

5) Is it possible to take an ‘attractive’ photo of a sausage roll? I have tried my best here. Turns out they are not as photogenic as cake.

Speaking of sausage rolls – these ones are made with gluten-free rough puff pastry. It was my first attempt at such a thing. Well, kind of. I inadvertently made gluten-free rough puff pastry in December when I didn’t mix the butter into the mince-pie pastry properly, and it got me wondering if I could make proper rough puff pastry. Well, when I say proper . . . some may dispute that because I only chilled it for 10 minutes in between rollings, because, you know, I don’t have all day. But it worked, so . . .

In fact, it really worked. The pastry was flaking, crispy and buttery. And there wasn’t a soggy bottom in sight!

Now I know that making pastry may not be everybody’s idea of fun, especially gluten-free pastry. But in my ever-so-humble opinion, gluten-free pastry is easier that ‘normal’ pastry because you can’t over work it and make it tough. Yes, there are the issues of cracking when trying to roll it and getting it to taste like something other than cardboard, but with regards to the former, if you work the butter in enough then that won’t happen. As for the latter – trial and error with ingredients and flours. But hey, guess what? I’ve done all that for you!

The pastry is the only thing I made from scratch for these. The onion marmalade was bought (this one if you are wondering) and I squeezed the innards out of 4 gluten-free sausages for the middle. I like Marks and Spencers sausages, as they are all gluten-free, but use whichever ones are your favourite. As the sausage meat is already seasoned, all you have to do is squidge it into the right shape. So not that much work, really.

Enjoy them warm or cold. They will keep in the fridge, wrapped in foil, for a couple of days. If they last that long.

Sausage Rolls with Onion Marmalade {and rough puff pastry}

Makes 8

Print recipe here

Ingredients:

• 100g rice flour
• 50g gram (chickpea / garbanzo bean) flour
• 2 tbsp polenta (fine cornmeal)
• 1/2 tsp English mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 75g butter, cold and cubed
• 1 egg yolk
• 5 tbsp water, approximately
• 4 gluten-free sausages
• 4 tbsp onion marmalade

Method:

• Place the rice flour, gram flour, polenta, English mustard powder, xanthan gum, salt and butter into a bowl.
• Using a table knife, cut through the ingredients, adding the water 1 tbsp at a time, until it resembles damp sand and the butter has broken up a bit. It doesn’t matter if there are still large-ish lumps of butter.
• Using your hands, bring the dough together into a ball. Add a little more water if needed.
• Place the dough between two pieces of cling-film and roll into a narrow rectangle. Fold the bottom third up and then the top third down over the other two-thirds. Use the cling-film to help you fold it if you wish. Wrap the dough in one piece of cling-film (but keep the other piece) and place in the fridge for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the fridge and unwrap. Place the other piece of cling-film back over the top and roll into a rectangle as before and once again fold the bottom third up and the top third down over the other two-thirds, ensuring that these folds are in the opposite direction to the first folds. Wrap and return to the fridge for another 10 minutes.
• Repeat twice more.
• While the pastry is resting for the final time, pre-heat the oven to 180 celsius / 160 fan / 350 fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with non-stick paper. Remove the sausage meat from the skins.
• Roll the pastry between two pieces of cling-film into a rough square, approximately 5mm thick. Cut it in half.
• Spread the middle of each pastry half with the onion marmalade. Divide the sausage meat in half and place on top of the marmalade in a sausage shape.
• Using the cling-film to help you, fold the sides of the pastry up over the sausage meat, so that it forms a roll.
• Turn the roll over, so that the seam is on the bottom and trim any ragged ends with a sharp knife. Cut each roll into quarters and place on the prepared baking sheet, ensuring the seam stays at the bottom to prevent it from unravelling.
• Brush the tops with a little milk, if desired, and bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
• Leave to cool on the tray for at least 10 minutes.