Saturday, September 02, 2006

August 26, 2006: Non-sausage rolls

On this Saturday night Michael and I decided to create a comforting winter meal at home and watch ‘Love and Other Catastrophes’ (set at the University of Melbourne) on video. Sausage rolls have always been a comfort food for me, first because I love pastry in almost all its forms. Sausage rolls also remind me of the occasions after church when my family would stop at the bakery on the way home for pies and/or sausage rolls, and a sweet treat each for dessert. (I almost always chose a chocolate brownie: cakey, dotted with walnuts, and topped with sugary icing.)

I’d been using this recipe for meatless sausage rolls for a few years even before I went veg. It gives me whatever it is I love about sausage rolls without the threat of snouts and entrails (gross!). On this night we trialled sauce and side veg recipes from our Moosewood cookbook: the arrabbiatta sauce contains lots of tomatoes, capsicum, onions, garlic, basil and black pepper. On the side are baked turnip chips with onion, and garlic silverbeet. These proved to be perfect accompaniments to the non-sausage rolls, but next time I’ll reduce the amount of oil that the turnips are cooked in.

I’ve got leftover sausage mix, sauce and pastry in the freezer so we’ll be enjoying this a few more times before the weather warms up.

Liz O’Brien’s Non-Sausage Sausage Rolls
(This recipe was given to me by Anna Stewart, Michael’s boss from Griffith Uni. I have no idea who Liz is, but her recipe should be shared with the world.)

Combine:

  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped finely
  • 1 medium to large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 250g cottage cheese
  • 1 cup oats
  • ½ cup breadcrumbs

It’ll look a bit like this:

Thaw out some ready-rolled puff pastry and cut it in half, into two rectangles. Spoon a line of the non-sausage mix down the centre third of each rectangle and gently roll up. Slice the rolls into halves, thirds or quarters and cut some diagonal slits along the top. You can repeat and assemble the lot now, or just do as many as you want to eat and freeze the remaining mix for later.

Glaze the sausage rolls with milk or a beaten egg, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. (I’m often too lazy to mess around with the sesame seeds.) Bake at 200 deg for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.


27 comments:

  1. I had these for lunch yesterday and they were yum! What a great recipe. I'd like to try fiddling around with it and see if I can make it vegan -- what do you think the function of the cream cheese is? It disappears once it's cooked.

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  2. Glad you like them! (I saw Carlo's photos of them yesterday.) I love this recipe and make it often. I think the cottage cheese is mainly a binder (along with the eggs) - maybe you could try some silken tofu (mashed or whizzed in a food processor) to replace both...?

    If you successfully perfect a vegan version, please share it with us - I'd love to give it a go!

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  3. Hi there Cindy, thanks for leaving a comment on my blog and leading me . . . to your vegetarian sausage rolls. Since being vegetarian I don't miss meat, but I do occasionally get a hankering for a good sausage. But it's virtually impossible to find tasty, non-scarily-processed vegetarian versions. Your sausage rolls look fabulous and I'm just gonna have to try them out soon. Thanks again.

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  4. You're very welcome, Kathryn! I hope these give you the same satisfaction that they do me. :-)

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  5. Hi Cindy..my sister recently put me onto your blog as we grow chickpeas and I was looking for some tried and tested new recipes. I have just pulled out of the oven my first batch of these little beauties..don't think I'll ever make the 'traditional' sausage roll again..and you know I don't think anyone would know, these are fantastic! I used chickpeas instead of the pecans, which I see you have thought of doing after reading the comments on the vegan version of this recipe. I soak my own chicks and simply replaced the 1 cup of pecans with 1 cup of chickpeas (buzz them in the food processor, throw in the onion and garlic, buzz a bit more, then add to rest of ingredients) too easy :) Next time I will add some grated carrot and zucchini like I would usually do with sausage rolls. I look forward to trying a more recipes.

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  6. Welcome, Julie! We love chickpeas but still haven't tried them in this recipe - will have to give it a go. :-)

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  7. i'm about to make these! v excited!
    can these be frozen after i've cooked them?

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  8. Hope you like 'em, Onika! Yes, they do freeze fine. I prefer to freeze the filling and then assemble the rolls on the day of eating, I think the pastry's a bit nicer that way. :-)

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  9. awesome thankyou!
    i made them they were amazing!! i put in kidney beans and grated carrot, and ommited the pecans. i needed more bread and oats though cos the cottage cheese and eggs (i only put 2 in) made it really wet.
    my brother is a staunch meat eater and loved them - they taste amazing!!
    thanks :) xx

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  10. You're welcome, Onika. :-)

    Glad the beans worked - we've never tried adding them but they make a lot of sense!

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  11. I made these for the first time last year and just made my first batch for this winter. I should have done it sooner. I forgot how well they hit the spot!

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  12. Hi Casie - they're a winter favourite here. Thanks for mentioning them on your blog. :-)

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  13. I just made it using about a cup of textured soy protein (TVP - about a cup of the dried soy stuff and a cup of hot water) and a grated carrot instead of the pecans. Still delicious, and with extra protein haha!

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  14. I haven't tried them with TVP, but I imagine it's a good fit. :-)

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  15. I made these tonight, having meant to since I first saw this post about two years ago - what a revelation! They are stunning - just like meaty ones but without the snouts, lips, eyelashes etc. I'm going to make them for my next crafternoon with the girls and convert them too. Plus I'm passing the vegan version on to my vegan friend.

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  16. Hi Abs! Glad you like 'em so much. We actually make the vegan version more often than the vegetarian version now. :-)

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  17. Hey, do you think the "sausage" filling would work to make veggie Scotch eggs?

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  18. Hi Abs - what an idea! I think it's definitely worth a go... I wonder if it would be best to blend the onion, pecans and oats a little finer to ensure the mixture isn't too chunky to wrap around the egg.

    Please report back if you do try this!

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  19. I will - I bought my fella a deep-fat frier for Christmas and he has recently rediscovered Scotch eggs courtesy of a local pub (he's an omnivore), which has piqued my own interest. Good idea about blending.

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  20. Cindy why haven't I seen your blog before today, why wasn't I told better still?? Anyhow, thanks so much for recipes, they're just wonderful, I have saved your blog to my desktop amongst other Vegan ones.

    I was going to make these today, but I bought the wrong Tofu!! Could I you use the firm tofu instead, or would it spoil them, bugger!!

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  21. Welcome, lilfairywren! If you've got a food processor or are willing to give the firm tofu an energetic mash with a fork I'm sure it would work out fine. You might like to add a little bit of soy milk or stock if the mixture's looking too dry and crumbly.

    Let us know how it goes!

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  22. I know you originally posted this recipe 6 years ago, but i just tried it out tonight. BRILLIANT! Everyone loved them. So nice to have nice-tasting vegie sausage rolls that have real food in them, rather than fillers and additives. Thank you.

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  23. Welcome, Linda! Glad you all enjoyed them, thanks for stopping by to comment. :-)

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  24. I added a smll grated zuchinni and they are beautiful

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    1. Nice one - there always seems to be some zucchini that needs using up at this time of year. :-)

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  25. These are the best vegetarian sausage rolls I have ever tried. Please share this recipe with vegetarians and meat eaters. This recipe should be one that everyone knows. Thank you Liz Obrien's. And thank you for sharing it with us.

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