Once you’ve had a home-made sausage roll, you’ll never want to eat a shop-bought one again. I’m using ready-made pastry and getting the meat from sausages, but just by adding a few little tweaks you can totally transform the flavours to give you the ultimate sausage roll.

makes 16 small sausage rolls

Ingredients

• • 6 good-quality Cumberland sausages (approx 400g), the best quality you can afford
• • a small bunch of fresh sage or rosemary, or a mixture of the two
• • 1 lemon
• • 1 small apple
• • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• • plain flour, for dusting
• • 500g good-quality all butter puff pastry
• • 1 egg, preferably free-range or organic
• • a splash of milk

To prepare your sausage rolls

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• Preheat the oven to 220ΊC/425ΊF/gas 7
• Using a small sharp knife, cut a slit in each of the sausages
• Rip off and discard the skins, put the sausage meat into a bowl

To prepare your sausage rolls

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• Pick and finely chop the sage or rosemary leaves and add to the bowl
• Finely grate the zest of the lemon into the bowl
• Halve and core the apple, then chop into rough 0.5cm chunks

To prepare your sausage rolls

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• Add the apple to the bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper, then scrunch and mix everything together with your clean hands
• Lightly flour a clean work surface and a rolling pin with flour
• Roll your pastry out until it’s about 25cm by 35cm (like a tea towel) and just under 0.5cm thick, dusting with flour as needed

To prepare your sausage rolls

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• Cut the sheet of pastry in half lengthways so you have two long strips
• Divide the sausage stuffing into two and roll each half into a sausage shape
• Lay each sausage shape down the centre of the pastry strips

To prepare your sausage rolls

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• Beat the egg with a splash of milk in a small bowl
• Use a pastry brush to egg-wash the pastry on both sides of the sausage meat, then fold it over so the edges join up

To prepare your sausage rolls

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• Use the back of a fork to mark and seal the pastry all the way along the join so it is tightly wrapped up
• Pinch the ends closed
• Egg-wash the top of each roll, then cut each one into 8 pieces

To cook and serve your sausage rolls

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• Place on a baking tray and cook in the hot oven for around 20 minutes, or until golden, crisp, puffed up and the sausage meat is cooked through
• Lovely served with a dollop of pickle, some Cheddar cheese and vegetable sticks

To cook and serve your sausage rolls

PS: The great thing about these sausage rolls is that you can freeze them uncooked, just wrap them in clingfilm and pop in the freezer. Simply remove them from the freezer when you need them and cook from frozen at 220ΊC/425ΊF/gas 7 for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden, crisp, puffed up and the sausage meat is cooked through