Sausage Rolls

[nadz0r]

Ingredients

Olive oil for frying onions/garlic
1kg beef mince (I used lean mince - which means my sausage rolls were drier, but healthier. If you want a more authentic sausage roll, use a fattier mince)
2 small brown onions - finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
2 carrots - peeled and grated
2 eggs, lightly beaten
handful of chopped continental parsley leaves
1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs
ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of ground chilli powder (to taste)
shake of salt or chicken stock
4 sheets frozen puff pastry - soft enough to handle
milk/beaten egg for glazing

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C
2. Heat oil in fry pan and saute garlic and onions until soft and brown.
3. Add carrots and grated zucchini - fry til soft.
4. Take off heat and combine the above mixture with the mince, egg, herbs and seasoning. Mix with hands until well combined.
5. Take the puff pastry and cut in half to form 2 rectangles.
6. Make a sausage out of the mince mixture with hands and place along the long edge. Leave about 1cm from the edge and then roll up to form a sausage roll.
7. Cut the roll into 4 and place seam side down on a baking rack. If the ends don't have enough mince in them, push some more in so you don't have 'povvo' sausage rolls.
8. Glaze sausage rolls with egg/milk mixture.
9. Repeat until you have enough sausage rolls - note that you can keep left over mince mixture to make fresh sausage rolls later.
10. Bake for about 15 - 25 minutes (depending on your oven) - wait til they look how puff pastry should look (ie. golden, puffy - NOT BLACK).
11. Serve with tomato sauce. Or if you're like me, mayonnaise.

Nadz' Notes

1. I think that the mixture would make great meatballs or even a fried mince (ie. just fry it without the pastry). Good for those of you who want to avoid fatty puff pastry
   
2. The original recipe didn't have zucchini - I added it to give it a bit more veg.
   
3. Also, the original recipe didn't have garlic or pre-fry the ingredients. I did that to bring the flavours out a bit more.
   
4. If using lamb mince, I would use different herbs, but it would still work. Oregano, rosemary, thyme - that sort of thing would go great with it.