Spicy Lamb Sausage Rolls

The spicy lamb sausage rolls at the Uraidla Bakery in the Adelaide Hills are the best sausage rolls I’ve ever tasted … this is my attempt to recreate them. I love Carême’s wholemeal spelt pastry for this recipe, but use any good butter puff. If using Carême (which is already the right dimensions), leave the pastry on the plastic it’s wrapped in then use this to wrap the rolls for refrigerating. Don’t be tempted to omit the breadcrumbs – they absorb moisture, helping to keep the filling plump and the pastry crisp. Mince for sausage rolls needs to contain a bit of fat and the first time I cooked these the mixture gave off a lot of oil, making the bases quite soggy. So I used this Method of transferring them to a wire rack once they’re partially cooked and firm … if the filling isn’t giving off much oil and you don’t mind slightly soggy bottoms you can skip this step, but you do still need to reduce the oven temperature half way through cooking. Serve with a tangy fruit chutney or relish, such as Stefano de Pieri’s Tomato & Capsicum Relish, and a glass of Ochota Barrels Texture Like Sun, another great Adelaide Hills find. Instead of refrigerating the filled pastry, it can be frozen at that stage and thawed for cooking later.

Makes 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
1 small red onion, finely diced
Salt flakes, to taste
1½ teaspoons fennel seeds, coarsely ground, plus extra for sprinkling
1½ teaspoons cumin seeds, coarsely ground
1 small carrot, grated
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon harissa paste
500g lamb mince
375g spelt wholemeal butter puff pastry
Plain flour, for dusting (if needed)
1 egg, lightly beaten
Fruit chutney or relish, for serving

Method

Preheat oven to 220°C with a large baking tray in the oven to also preheat.
Heat oil in a small frying pan, add onion and a good pinch of salt, and cook over medium-high heat, covered, for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until just starting to colour.
Add fennel and cumin and stir for another minute.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add carrot, breadcrumbs, harissa, lamb and 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix with your hands for a few minutes, to combine thoroughly.
Place pastry on a lightly floured work bench and roll out to 27cm x 35cm (if necessary).
Form the lamb mixture into a log all the way down the long edge of the pastry closest to you, leaving about a 3cm border.
Brush all exposed pastry with egg.
Fold the pastry border onto the filling, then roll away from you to tightly enclose the filling.
Wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to firm up.
Cut into 4 rolls, make a couple of diagonal cuts in the top of each roll, brush with egg and scatter with extra fennel seeds.
Remove tray from oven, brush with oil and place rolls, seam side-down, on the tray.
Place in oven, reduce temperature to 200°C and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and place rolls on a wire rack. Drain any liquid off the oven tray, place rack on the tray and return to the oven.
Reduce temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 20 minutes or so, until golden and cooked through.
Serve hot with chutney or relish on the side.