Sausage rolling.

Sausage Rolls are a proper Aussie staple food. Along with meat pies, they are available just about everywhere, from bakeries to servos (that’s gas stations to North Americans) to fancy-pants cocktail parties. The filling can be as basic as a sausage, or gourmet.

I went vego before I moved to Australia, so I have never eaten a meat-based sausage roll. But I am positive that I’m not missing anything with the yummy vegan versions we create (and they get Andy’s stamp of approval, so they must be at least all right).

We’ve made red lentil sausage rolls before, and they were very tasty but Andy said the texture wasn’t quite right. So this time we made the filling from TVP. Rehydrated in hot water mixed with vegemite, a dash of soy sauce, and some dried mixed herbs, the TVP was then mixed with some sautéed onions, grated carrot, bulgur and tomato paste.

Then it was time for rolling. Making sausage rolls is actually pretty easy. Cut a few sheets of puff pastry in half. On each half, put some of the filling in a line down one side, making sure to leave a centimetre or so along the edge. Press the filling with your hands into a firm mound. Then, fold up the small edge and then the large edge. Press the seam together well, and cut each pastry roll to the desired size. Here are some sausage rolls in various phases of rolling.

Bake the sausage rolls in a 180 (350F) oven for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and beginning to brown.

Serve with loads of tomato sauce.

While the oven is on, why not bake some biscuits? These are chocolate, coconut and peanut biscuits. The recipe is based on the ‘Chocolate Coconut Biscuits’ from Wild Morsels but I cut down on the sugar and oil involved. Also, the dough was a little blah, so I added peanuts which brought them to a whole new level. I fridged the dough overnight, as per the suggestions in this article. The dough was really great to eat raw, and the baked cookies were delicious too. Chocolate!