For Week 10 of the 52 week challenge, the theme was Australian. This was definitely going to be out of my comfort zone since most of the things we were interested in were meat pies and sausage rolls. Our meal for the Week 10 theme got delayed a little bit because (1) A was away on business that week and (2) I could only find puff pastry near us at ridiculously high prices. We shopped around for affordable puff pastry and then it was time to make sausage rolls (adapted from the recipe here)!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage ($3.48)
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped ($0.60)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced ($0.10)
- 2 medium carrots, grated ($0.30)
- 1 medium zucchini, grated ($0.69)
- 1 cup breadcrumbs ($0.50)
- leaves of a small bunch of cilantro, finely chopped ($0.60)
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg ($0.05)
- salt and pepper ($0.10)
- 2 eggs ($0.38)
- 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry ($3.50)
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds ($0.10)
- sriracha sauce (to serve) ($0.10)
Dinner cost about $10.50, with most of the cost coming from the sausage and puff pastry. The puff pastry I got from Stop and Shop for $3.50 was the cheapest I could find anywhere (and it was on sale). It was almost double the price at Pathmark and almost double that price at Whole Foods. Unfortunately it's only a seasonal item at Trader Joe's and this is the off-season (I'm not sure what their price was, but theirs didn't have folded sheets, which is nice). I had no idea before making this that it would be so difficult to find affordable puff pastry! For some reason I thought it would be cheap.
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped ($0.60)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced ($0.10)
- 2 medium carrots, grated ($0.30)
- 1 medium zucchini, grated ($0.69)
- 1 cup breadcrumbs ($0.50)
- leaves of a small bunch of cilantro, finely chopped ($0.60)
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg ($0.05)
- salt and pepper ($0.10)
- 2 eggs ($0.38)
- 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry ($3.50)
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds ($0.10)
- sriracha sauce (to serve) ($0.10)
Dinner cost about $10.50, with most of the cost coming from the sausage and puff pastry. The puff pastry I got from Stop and Shop for $3.50 was the cheapest I could find anywhere (and it was on sale). It was almost double the price at Pathmark and almost double that price at Whole Foods. Unfortunately it's only a seasonal item at Trader Joe's and this is the off-season (I'm not sure what their price was, but theirs didn't have folded sheets, which is nice). I had no idea before making this that it would be so difficult to find affordable puff pastry! For some reason I thought it would be cheap.
Process:
1. In a large bowl, combine sausage, onion, garlic, carrot, zucchini, breadcrumbs, cilantro, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Beat one egg and add to mixture.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking tray with parchment paper.
3. Unfold puff pastry sheets (if required) and cut each sheet in half. [Helpful hint: do not fully thaw your puff pastry sheets if they are folded. They will be very difficult to unfold, as you can see below. They may not unfold at all and you'll have to roll them out like pizza dough.]
4. Beat the other egg and brush the edges of the puff pastry sheets.
5. Place a portion of the sausage mixture at one end of the puff pastry sheet (not in the middle like in the photo). Roll up to enclose filling.
3. Unfold puff pastry sheets (if required) and cut each sheet in half. [Helpful hint: do not fully thaw your puff pastry sheets if they are folded. They will be very difficult to unfold, as you can see below. They may not unfold at all and you'll have to roll them out like pizza dough.]
4. Beat the other egg and brush the edges of the puff pastry sheets.
5. Place a portion of the sausage mixture at one end of the puff pastry sheet (not in the middle like in the photo). Roll up to enclose filling.
[Note: There was leftover sausage mixture after we rolled up all the sheets of puff pastry. The rest can become meatballs, burgers, etc.]
6. Cut each roll into smaller pieces (I cut 3-4 pieces for each half sheet). Place on baking sheet, seam side down.
7. Brush each roll with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes, or until golden. [The original recipe had this at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and 350 degrees for 10 minutes, but after we tested one, it was still a little doughy, especially on the bottom, so we baked them for at least 10 more minutes.]
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes, or until golden. [The original recipe had this at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and 350 degrees for 10 minutes, but after we tested one, it was still a little doughy, especially on the bottom, so we baked them for at least 10 more minutes.]
9. Top with sauce of your choosing (we picked sriracha).
Review:
From 2 sheets of puff pastry, we made 13 sausage roll pieces. I don't know how, but we ate 11 of them the night we made them. Completely unhealthy but the sausage mixture was pretty tasty. Italian sausage really makes recipes better.
The sausage rolls were a pretty successful experiment and the recipe tasted fairly authentic (based on our experiences here at Tuck Shop and Pie Face). I don't think I will make these again anytime soon since (1) finding affordable puff pastry was not that easy around here, (2) they are really bad for you, and (3) we could just go down the street to Pie Face to get affordable sausage rolls without making so many that we eat too much, but I'm glad they came out well.
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