I consider I have now acquired the taste for traditional Polish cooking and have some favourites, but occasionally I still yearn for some good old English country food. I also don’t venture into the kitchen very often, but having some spare time last week, I thought I would make some sausage rolls in preparation for a get together we had yesterday – including the sausagemeat. Here’s my step by step guide.
Step 1 – Chop into inch cubes 500g of pork shoulder, 500g of pork belly and 500g of bacon. Cut away and discard any fat from the meat.
Step 2 – feed the cubed meat through a mincer, extracting any fatty strands where possible.
Step 3 – finely chop 3 cloves of garlic and 2 large onions. Fry half the onion and half the garlic with a tablespoon of muscovado sugar to caramelise, and add to the minced meat.
Step 4 – add 2 tsps of thyme and 2 tsps of black pepper with a little salt to the meat mixture. Combine all the ingredients together and blend thoroughly with your hands.
Step 5 – roll out some puff pastry thinly into a flat rectangular shape and lay the meat mixture until you are able to roll the pastry to create a tube, sealing it with beaten egg. Trim off any jagged edges with a knife.
Step 6 – cut the roll into sections about 2 inches long and place onto a baking tray, nipping two small holes in the top with scissors. Brush each parcel with egg.
Step 7 – cook on 200C for 20-25 minutes until the meat is cooked and the pastry is golden brown! Eat whilst warm if possible, although cold is also good.
You can also introduce two grated apples into the mixture which adds more moisture to the meat. My substitute for this was to make a few jars of Apple & Date Chutney which complements the dish with a hot, spicy and sweet flavour. Here’s the recipe I used:
APPLE & DATE CHUTNEY
Ingredients:
1kg stoned, dried dates
4 onions (about 500g)
4 large cooking apples (about 1kg)
125g dark muscovado sugar
180g black treacle
1 pt cider vinegar
1tsp salt
1tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp ground mixed spice (if available)
Finely chop or mince the dates, onions and apples. Add to a large saucepan and add all the other ingredients. Bring slowly to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1-2 hours until the mixture is thick, stirring occasionally. Spoon into warm, sterilised jars and seal immediately. The above makes about 8 x 250g jars. Best served after two weeks, although we opened a jar after two days and it was still pretty good. I shall be making more of these in the future as they make very good snacks and are deemed a curious addition to the Polish party table!
