Inspired by a recipe I found in Jamie Oliver’s Comfort Food
When we were in England a couple of years ago Nigel was so happy to enjoy his good English, greasy sausage rolls. It never occurred to me to make them here (maybe a little less greasy and with some veg added to it to make it a more rounded meal) until I was reading through Jamie’s new book. The photo of the sausage rolls looked so good I just had to make some. I made two large rolls and between, Nigel, the boys, Helen and I, we ate every last little bit. AND I will make it again very soon, because that just wasn’t enough. Nigel was very skeptical of the my desire to add veg to the mix, but in the end he loved them, and I think it could handle quite a bit more. You don’t necessarily have to use the meat combo I used here. You could substitute ground turkey or ground lamb and even vegetarian sausage/meat substitutes.
1 lb good Sausage meat, I used Fatted Calf Breakfast Sausage
1 lb ground Beef
1 pack good Bacon, chopped pretty small
1 or 2 Onions
1 bunch of Collards, stems removed, leaves chopped pretty small
1 or 2 cloves of Garlic
2 Eatwell Farm Eggs
1 or 2 of this week’s Peppers, diced
1 cup Breadcrumbs
1 cup grated Cheddar Cheese
1 or 2 TB fresh Sage, chopped
Freshly grated Nutmeg, do this to taste preference
Salt and Pepper
2 sheets Puff Pastry I use Trader Joe’s
1 extra Egg for Pastry Egg Wash
Preheat oven to 375 F. In a good sized skillet over medium-high heat, cook chopped bacon until mostly done, then add sausage, breaking it apart. Once the sausage meat is broken apart, add the ground beef. Cook until the beef is crumbly, but before it is completely done add the onions, peppers and garlic. Cook until the peppers and onion are somewhat soft then add the chopped collard greens. Continue cooking until collards are tender. Remove meat mixture from the hot pan and put into a large mixing bowl, allow to cool to the point of being able to handle. Add the eggs, breadcrumbs, cheddar cheese, sage, nutmeg, salt and pepper, mix well. Lay out puff pastry dough on a sheet of lightly floured parchment paper. Put enough of the meat mixture across the length (leaving a good 2 inches of pastry above and plenty below) to make a big fat sausage. Using the parchment paper to help you, roll the pastry over starting from the shorter top end, creating a lovely sausage log. Repeat with the second sheet. Brush both rolls with eggs wash and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until a deep golden brown. Don’t worry if you have leftover meat mix, it tastes delicious fried up and served with some butternut squash!