Adventures In Sausage Diversity
I discovered these yummy (and not at all healthy) Johnsonville Sausage Rolls about 15 years ago. I’d grab one for breakfast on my way to work and not stop to think about my bad dietary choices for the day. Because they were soooooo good! That soft biscuity-bready layer wrapped around a savory bratwurst…what’s not to love about that? With the help of YouTube and Google, I figured out how to make them at home quickly and easily. I mean, it’s two ingredients that you put together and bake. Hardly gets easier than that. I will get to that “recipe” shortly, but first, I want to talk about more traditional sausage rolls.
Sausage rolls are big in the United Kingdom, although not quite so popular here. This is mystifying to me, because they are just as delicious as the Johnsonville rolls, although with a different flavor profile. Traditional sausage rolls are ground pork with whatever fillings you like to make it tasty, wrapped in puff pastry, sliced into pieces, and then baked. Again, delicious.
So today, I thought I’d talk about the methodology for making each one, and then give you the recipes. Let’s start with the easy ones, the Johnsonville knockoff rolls. Ha. I think that’s an excellent name for the recipe. Johnsonville Knockoff Rolls. Yep, I like it. Okay, you’ll need a package of Johnsonville brats; they are pre-cooked and slightly smaller than the average hotdog, so if you decide to substitute some other brand of brat, make sure that you take those factors into consideration. And you’ll need a tube of biscuits (I like Pillsbury). Preheat your oven to whatever temperature the biscuit tube says (usually 350°) and roll out six of the biscuits to a roughly 6x6” square. More or less. Set a brat in the middle of each rolled out biscuit, and wrap it up. You can use an egg wash on the overlap area if you want and over the biscuit once it’s wrapped. That’s completely optional. Lay your sausage rolls seam side down (I forgot this important point, which is why mine came unrolled, as you can see in the pictures) on a baking pan. You will likely have two extra biscuits, which you can bake at the same time. (I had mine for dessert, with a little buckwheat honey. Heaven!) Bake for 2/3 of the time indicated on the tube of biscuits, then turn your sausage rolls over. If you don’t turn them, they tend to stay a little mushy on the underside. No one likes a soggy bottom! (Paul Hollywood, you have a lot to answer for.) When they’re done, you can eat them warm (sublime) or you can let them cool and then freeze them on their pan. Once they’re frozen individually, you can remove them to a freezer container, thaw as needed, and reheat in the microwave.
Now, on to the more traditional sausage rolls. First, make the sausage filling. You can use ground pork, and add things like finely diced garlic, onion, jalapeno, cheese, whatever you like. Make sure not to add a lot of moisture to your sausage mixture or it will make your pastry soggy. Since I like quick and easy, I opted to buy my favorite mild sweet italian sausage mix. Whether you buy pre-made sausage or you mix it up yourself from ground pork, you’ll still need to add an egg and bread crumbs. I used panko, because that’s what I like (and also what I had). And because you can really never have too much garlic, I added about two tablespoons of the minced garlic you can buy in a bottle. Mix it together as much as you can with a fork, and then at the end, use your hand to bring it together. You don’t want this getting warm, so only use your hand at the end. Put this mixture in the fridge to chill while you work on the puff pastry. This would also be a good time to start pre-heating your oven.
For these, I used frozen puff pastry I bought at the store. The brand I bought comes two sheets to a package, which will then need to be rolled out. Thaw the pastry in the fridge, and then work on one sheet at a time. It’s important that everything stay as cold as possible for these rolls, so anytime you’re not working on something, it needs to be waiting for you in the fridge. So when you’re working on your first sheet of pastry, the second sheet needs to be chillin’ out, so to speak. You’ll want a puff pastry rectangle that’s roughly 6x14”, and since the pastry I bought came in a square, I trimmed off one side, added it to the end, and then rolled out. Then I trimmed it down to size and discarded the extra bits.
Take half the sausage mixture and put it down the center of your puff pastry, using your hands to shape it into sort of an even log shape. Brush some egg wash (one egg beaten with about a teaspoon of water) down one edge to help “glue” this together. Take the other edge and bring it over the top of the sausage, sticking it together with the egged edge. After you’ve snugged the pastry securely over the sausage, use a fork to crimp the edges, and then trim off and discard the extra pastry. I also trimmed off the ends. Cut this into eight pieces, place them on your baking sheet, brush with egg wash, and put the baking sheet into the fridge. Treat the second piece of puff pastry and the rest of the sausage mixture in the same way. You’ll end up with sixteen sausage rolls. Since these need to be cold, set the baking sheet in the freezer for 5-10 minutes or back into the fridge for 20 minutes before baking.
Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes. Your rolls are done when they are very golden brown. If you are concerned about whether your sausage is sufficiently cooked or not, you can test the internal temperature. The sausage should be at least 165°. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before you eat one, lest you scald the top layer off your tongue. I ate a few (quality control is so important) and then set the baking pan in the freezer and let them freeze before I put them in a freezer container. As with the others, let them thaw in the fridge, then reheat in the microwave. They aren’t quite as good reheated as when they first come out of the oven, but then what is, really? They are still delicious.
For your general health, I cannot recommend eating these all the time. But sometimes? Heck, yeah. Plus, they keep forever (and by forever, I mean you probably shouldn’t keep them longer than a month or two) in the freezer and are a quick, convenient, utterly delicious meal or snack whenever you need them. Enjoy!
Johnsonville Knockoff Rolls
INGREDIENTS
1 package of Johnsonville cooked bratwurst sausages (six to a pack)
1 tube of biscuits (eight to a tube)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350° (or temperature indicated on biscuit tube). Roll out each biscuit to about a 6” square, place a brat in the middle, and roll it up. Place seam side down on a baking sheet, Bake for 10-15 minutes, turning the rolls seam side up halfway through. Rolls are done when biscuit dough is golden and appears done. Eat warm or cold. Can freeze and reheat in microwave.
Sausage Rolls
Click here for printable PDF of recipe
INGREDIENTS
1 package of puff pastry (should have two sheets in it), thawed in fridge
1 pound of pork sausage mixture of choice
1 egg
3/4 cup bread crumbs or panko
Optional additions: finely diced onion/jalapeño
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375° and line baking sheet with parchment or silicon baking sheet.
In a large bowl, use a fork to combine the sausage mix, egg, bread crumbs, and any other additions desired. If necessary, you can use your hand to finish mixing. Place the bowl in the fridge and move on to working with the pastry.
Working with one sheet at a time, roll out the puff pastry to approximate 6x14”. Take half the sausage mixture and place it down the center of the pastry. Brush egg wash along one long edge and then bring the other long edge up and over the sausage, crimping it snugly down over the egg washed area. Trim off any excess pastry with a knife. Trim off the ends of this roll and then cut into eight pieces. Place on baking sheet and place in fridge. Do the same with the other sheet of pastry and the rest of the sausage mixture. When all sixteen pieces are on the baking sheet, brush them with egg wash. Chill baking sheet in the freezer for 5-10 minutes or the fridge for 20 minutes prior to baking.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, until rolls are dark gold. If desired, can confirm that sausage is cooked through by testing with a thermometer; sausage temperature should be at least 165°. Let these rest on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. Alternately, they can cool on their baking sheet and then be frozen on it. Once frozen, remove rolls to a freezer safe container and store up to a month. Thaw in fridge before reheating in microwave.
