Chestnut and Apricot Festive Sausage Rolls

Chestnut and Apricot Festive Sausage Rolls

Delicious sausage rolls with flaky pastry and a hint of nutmeg and orange. Festive and delicious!

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 150g unsalted, frozen butter

• 230g plain flour

• 1/2 tsp salt

• Very cold water

• 1 egg, beaten (for the egg wash)

Filling:

• 300g sausage meat (or vegetarian sausage meat - Plant Pioneers works very well!)
• 60g breadcrumbs
• 70g dried apricots, diced
• 100g cooked and peeled chestnuts, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme (chopped)
• Zest of half an orange
• 1 tsp grated nutmeg
• Salt and pepper 

Method:

1. For the pastry - freeze the butter for around an hour, it needs to be very solid. 
2. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and grate the frozen butter. It helps if you dip the butter in the flour so that it doesn't all lump together. Try to avoid touching it for too long and letting it melt in your hands - use the foil of the butter to prevent this! 
3. Once all the butter is grated, use a palette knife to toss the butter in the flour until it is all coated. 
4. Pour some very cold water very slowly into the flour and butter. Pour just a few tablespoons at a time and mix with the knife, and keep adding until it just comes together. The amount really depends on the absorption of the flour, so keep a careful eye on this! It should leave the bowl clean, but you don't want a sticky dough! 
5. Once it comes together, wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes. 
6. Meanwhile make the filling. Remove the sausage (or veggie sausage) meat from the skins, and add the breadcrumbs. 
7. Add the chopped dried apricots, chestnuts, thyme, orange zest, nutmeg and salt and then get stuck in with your hands and mix it all together. 
8. Divide the mixture into two even portions, and mould them into two sausages, around 25cm long. 
9. Preheat the oven to 200 C (fan)
10. Once the pastry has chilled and rested, roll it out onto a floured surface. You will see the streaks of butter, but if the pastry is not smooth (the frozen butter has clumped together), roll and fold a few times until you no longer see any large lumps.
11. Roll it out to around 30x25cm and cut it in half down the middle (of the long edge).
12. Place the sausages in the middle of each half and carefully roll the pastry over. Brush a little of the beaten egg wash on one edge of the pastry so that when the two ends of pastry meet, it is sealed. 
13. Repeat with the other sausage and trim the ends off.
14. Divide each sausage roll into 4 smaller pieces, brush with the egg wash and bake for 30 minutes until a lovely golden brown.
15. Enjoy!