Flaky All-Butter Sausage Rolls with Sage & Fennel

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A proper bakery-counter sausage roll: shatteringly crisp all-butter puff pastry wrapped around a juicy pork filling seasoned with toasted fennel, fresh sage and grainy mustard. A milk-and-breadcrumb panade keeps the meat tender instead of springy, and a cold rest before baking guarantees maximum lift. Twelve handheld rolls, best eaten warm with brown sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 cup panko or fresh white breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 1/4 lb ground pork (not lean — 20% fat)
• 2 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground mace or allspice

• 1 lb all-butter puff pastry, thawed but cold (two sheets)
• all-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp heavy cream or milk
• 2 tsp nigella, sesame or poppy seeds
• 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook 6–8 minutes, stirring, until soft and translucent but not browned. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Scrape onto a plate and spread out to cool completely — 10 minutes in the fridge is fine.
2. Toast the fennel seeds in the same dry skillet over medium heat for 60–90 seconds, until fragrant and one shade darker. Cool, then crush coarsely in a mortar or under the flat of a knife.
3. In a large bowl, stir the breadcrumbs and milk together and let sit 5 minutes until they swell into a paste. Add the cooled onion mixture, crushed fennel, ground pork, sage, mustard, kosher salt, pepper, nutmeg and mace. Mix with your hands for about 45 seconds — just until evenly combined and slightly tacky. Overmixing makes the filling bouncy.
4. Fry a teaspoon of the mixture in a small skillet until cooked through, taste, and adjust salt or pepper. Divide the filling into 2 equal portions and chill while you set up the pastry.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll one sheet of puff pastry to a rectangle roughly 10 x 12 inches and 1/8 inch thick. Cut it in half lengthwise to make two 5 x 12-inch strips. Repeat with the second sheet so you have four strips.
6. Beat the egg with the cream. Working with one strip at a time, lay a 1-inch-thick log of filling (about a quarter of the mixture) down the strip, slightly off-center toward the near edge, leaving a 1/2-inch border at each end. Brush the far long edge with egg wash.
7. Fold the pastry over the filling and press the seam firmly to seal, then crimp along the seam with the tines of a fork. Roll the log seam-side down. Repeat with the remaining strips. Transfer the four logs to a parchment-lined sheet pan and freeze 20 minutes (or refrigerate 45 minutes) until the pastry is firm — this is what buys you height and flake.
8. Heat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the upper third. Line two sheet pans with parchment.
9. Cut each chilled log crosswise into 3 pieces (12 rolls total) with a sharp knife, wiping the blade between cuts. Space them seam-side down at least 1 1/2 inches apart on the pans. Brush the tops and sides with egg wash, make three shallow diagonal slashes in each with a paring knife, then sprinkle with seeds and flaky salt.
10. Bake 25–30 minutes, rotating the pans front-to-back halfway through, until the pastry is deep golden and puffed and the filling registers 160°F on an instant-read thermometer pushed in from the end. If the tops brown before the meat is done, tent loosely with foil.
11. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes so the juices settle, then serve warm with brown sauce, ketchup or extra mustard.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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