Australian Sausage Rolls

Boy are you in for a treat! These sausage rolls taste even better than they look.  The recipe was given to me by James, who was an Australian chef I worked with at the Hyatt Regency Princeton.

Once a month, all of the managers would get together for a meeting to go over the upcoming business at the hotel and the kitchen would prepare some fun foods for us to snack on.    If you want to make sure everyone will come to a meeting, serve them food.  Brilliant, right? You know how 18 year-olds gain the Freshman 15?  Well the joke with us was that you would gain the Hyatt 15 because there was always amazing food everywhere.

So one day, I showed up to the meeting and saw these sausage rolls on the spread for the day.  Heaven in your mouth... no joke.  I pestered James for a few days until he forked over this recipe. And I'm so glad he did because now I get to share it with all of you!

I made these for brunch at my mother's house and they proved to be the perfect finger food because each piece was gone by the afternoon.

G'Day mates!  

Mix the sausage, onions, garlic, basil, chives and spices together

Prepare your counter to roll out the puffed pastry

Roll it out into a 12x15 rectangle.  The secret to the dough not sticking is to keep lightly flouring and moving/flipping the dough around.

Slice across the middle to make two rectangles

Brush each edge with a beaten egg

Form a long log of sausage along the length of the dough

Roll it up and press the edge to seal. Brush the entire roll with the egg wash and over the top, sprinkle with paprika, white and black sesame seeds.

Australian Sausage Rolls

1 pound pork sausage

3/4 cup onion, finely chopped

2 teaspoons fresh basil, finely chopped

1 tablespoon snipped chives

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon paprika (I used smoked paprika)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup flour, reserved for rolling out pastry

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a large bowl, mix together the sausage, onion, basil, chives, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper until thoroughly combined. 

Lightly dust clean surface with flour. Roll out the sheet of pastry until you form a 12x15 inch rectangle. Slice it across the middle so you have two 6x15 inch rectangles. Brush each longer edge with the egg wash.  

Using your hands, divide the sausage mixture in half. On each sheet, form a long log of sausage along the edge of the dough. Roll it up and press the edge to seal. No need to seal the ends because you want the grease to cook out.  

Place each roll on a cookie sheet lined with either parchment paper or a Silpat.  Brush the entire roll with the egg wash and then sprinkle the tops with paprika, white and black sesame seeds.  

Place in oven and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  When the 20 minutes is up, remove from oven and tip pan to drain grease.  Increase heat to 375 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.  

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes.  Slice into 2 inch pieces and serve.