ULTIMATE SAUSAGE ROLL

(Serves 6)

INGREDIENTS:

For the rough puff pastry: 225g plain flour, plus extra to dust; ½tsp fine salt; 200g cold unsalted butter, diced; juice of ½ lemon; 180-200ml cold water

For the filling: 1tbsp oil;

1 small onion, finely diced; 400g sausage meat (or your favourite sausages, skinned); 125g Stilton, crumbled; 1tbsp thyme leaves; a pinch of white pepper

To finish: 2 egg yolks, beaten, to glaze; 2tsp nigella seeds; 2tsp sesame seeds

METHOD:

1. To make the pastry, put the flour, salt and butter into a bowl. Mix the lemon juice with the water and add threequarters of the liquid to the bowl. Gently stir until the mixture forms a lumpy dough. Add remaining liquid if required. Don’t knead or work too much, you want lumps of butter through the dough.

2. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and flatten to a rectangle. Using a rolling pin, roll into a narrow rectangle around 2.5cm thick. Fold a third of the dough up on itself, then the opposite third down over that, as if folding a business letter. Wrap the pastry in cling-film and chill for at least 20 minutes.

3. Unwrap the pastry and

repeat, rolling the pastry at 90 degrees to the original roll, to a rectangle 40x15cm, then folding as before. Wrap and chill for 20mins. Repeat the process twice more, chilling the dough for at least 20mins between folds.

4. Heat your oven to 200ºC/ Fan 180ºC/Gas 6 and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

5. For the filling, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, add onion and cook for 7-10mins until softened and just turning golden brown. Leave to cool.

6. In a bowl, mix sausage meat with the cooled onion, crumbled Stilton, thyme and white pepper. With floured hands, roll the filling into a 20cm-long sausage and wrap tightly in cling-film. Chill for 30 minutes.

7. Roll out the pastry to a rectangle, 30x20cm, and trim edges to neaten. Place on the baking tray and chill for 20mins. Unwrap the sausage and lay it along the

pastry, 6cm from one edge.

8. Brush exposed pastry with beaten egg yolk, leaving the 6cm border clear. Fold the egg-washed pastry over the sausage filling to meet the border and encase the sausage filling. Press the edges firmly together. Press a floured fork firmly along the length of the sealed edge. (You may need to keep dipping the fork in flour to stop it sticking.)

9. Brush the sausage roll all over with more egg and score the pastry on the diagonal. Chill for 15 minutes. Heat your oven to 210ºC/Fan 190ºC/Gas 6½. Brush the pastry again with egg, all over, then sprinkle with the nigella and sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crisp and the sausage meat is cooked through.

10. Leave to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with your favourite pickles and chutney.