Something savoury today for a change. Cocktail sausages wrapped in pastry. Rather like miniature sausage rolls but I am going to call them Picnic Sausages. I am sure the children will eat them. I decided to make some flaky pastry as I haven’t made any for ages and I had an idea in my head that these mini sausage rolls would be an ideal addition to a picnic. I am adding the recipe to my [amazon_textlink asin=’1521478244′ text=’next recipe book’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’f1503e38-70a2-11e7-87e7-83da90c9ab89′] as I am going to add some other ingredients to the sausage rolls to give it a bit of a kick. Some of the sausages will have mustard added, some will have ketchup and the rest will have [amazon_textlink asin=’B00BHFH1SQ’ text=’Branston pickle’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’2eb63042-2b4c-11e7-a2d7-7fac63cbd314′]. A bit of bite to the mini sausage. My husband will appreciate this little touch and I hope the children will like some of them too. These Picnic Sausages are easy to transport to a picnic and are something that won’t come home again as all will be eaten on the picnic. As a teatime treat I will serve these with salad and new potatoes.
My method for making flaky pastry is based on “Delia Smiths” recipe for quick flaky pastry, which can be found in “Delia’s[amazon_textlink asin=’0563539070′ text=’ How to Cook’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’5ae97fa8-2b66-11e7-a779-7d51540529aa’]” recipe book. I use less butter in my recipe as I feel that there is plenty of fat from the sausages as they cook in the oven, but that is my personal choice. This recipe for sausage rolls can be found in my first recipe book “[amazon_textlink asin=’B06XHLSMD7′ text=’Baking at it’s best : Advice and recipes for the Home Baker and would be Entrepreneurs’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’08da1794-70a3-11e7-8dda-39e23ab6f05c’]”. This method involves the butter, which has been frozen, being grated into the flour and salt. After the butter is added and coated in the flour, the water is added to make a dough. The dough needs to be re-chilled before it is rolled out and used. I still roll the pastry, fold the pastry and turn it to re-roll and repeat the folding to encourage the layers in the flaky pastry. This method is a lot quicker than the standard method and produces very good results. Thank you Delia Smith. 🙂 I have added some pictures of the different stages of making the pastry using this method.
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If there is enough pastry I may make a vegetarian option for myself. Something involving cheese and mustard. I have removed the mini sausages from the freezer to make sure they are defrosted before I wrap them in the pastry. I don’t want any extra moisture in the recipe.
For my lunch, I have made some soup using some of the kale, which I haven’t managed to use in the smoothies which I keep making for myself. I don’t want the kale to go off as it is a large bag and I am only using a handful a day. I have made my soup using kale, sweet potato, carrot and onion. I just need to blitz it up with the hand blender and I will be having it for my lunch as it is a chilly day outside today. I might even share it with my husband.
Back to writing for this next recipe book for now. I have sold quite a few copies of my other books but some reviews would be nice so if you want to buy a copy of one of my recipe books it would be really nice and much appreciated if you would leave a review on Amazon.
Just thought I would share a photo of the final Mini Picnic Sausages before they are all eaten. All the flavours were a hit, Branston pickle, brown sauce, ketchup and mustard. I will be making them again as the comments I am hearing from the family are that “they are like hotdogs with the ketchup added”, “can I not add the pickle to the inside of the sausage”. Few things to think about there. As I said before I will be adding this recipe to my next recipe book which is going to be all about picnic foods. I like to try and make things for family picnics that are slightly quirky and that I know the family will enjoy. I always try to make a vegetarian option and these little picnic sausages could so easily have been made using vegetarian sausages if I had any in the freezer. Definitely something to think about in the future.