Apricot & pistachio sausage in blankets

CHEERY LITTLE BACON PARCELS OF SAUSAGEMEAT

Makes 12 balls

25g butter, plus some for greasing 1 red onion, finely chopped 500g sausagemeat 100g dried apricots, roughly chopped 50g shelled pistachios, roughly chopped 1 egg, beaten 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves 1 tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp ground nutmeg ¼ tsp ground allspice 24 rashers smoked streaky bacon

1 Preheat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/ 400F. Lightly grease a 12-hole cupcake tray. Melt the butter in a pan and gently fry the onion for 10 mins until softened. Set to one side to cool.

2 Place all the other ingredients, except the bacon, in a bowl. Once the onions have cooled, add them also and mix well, ideally using your hands so that you can make sure you’re really working all the ingredients into the sausagmeat. This would also be a great task to do with kids – just make sure they’ve washed their hands!

3 Take 2 rashers of bacon and lay them in a cupcake tray hole, one over the other, making them cross in the centre. Take a golf ball-sized piece of sausagemeat mixture, roll it into a ball and place in the centre of the bacon cross. Again, if there are kids around, put them to work here!

4 Take each ‘arm’ of bacon and wrap it over the sausagemeat until you have a nice tidy sausage ball wrapped in bacon. Repeat the process for the rest of the cupcake tray. 5 Cover the tray with foil and bake in the oven for 35 mins. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 mins or until the bacon is crisp and golden.