Pork, Apple & Carrot Sausage

Put a glass containing 100 mls of water and 15 mls of verjuice* in the fridge before you prepare the other ingredients.

Mix together 1 teaspoon of salt with 2 teaspoons of dried sage (rub it between your fingers as you rub it in), some black pepper (to your taste) and 100 grams of breadcrumbs (I use half panko* and half ordinary breadcrumbs) and mix them all together with your hands.

Finely chop two medium sized shallots or one small red onion, half a red delicious apple and a large carrot.

Put 500 grams of pork mince (about 12% fat, too low fat will result in unsatisfactory sausage) in a large bowl and, with your hands, first mix in the dry ingredients then the onion, carrots and apple until it is well combined.

Once you have it well mixed take the water/verjuice combination from the fridge and mix in that until it looks well mixed.

Cover in cling film and put in the fridge for at least one hour. This gives time for the breadcrumbs to soak up some of the liquid and makes a firmer mix.

In the meantime, if you’d like to make some  sausage rolls make some shortcrust pastry*. Or mix together a packet. Or buy some out of the chiller cabinet in the supermarket. IT’S YOUR CHOICE. ,Don’t let anybody tell you that if you don’t make it from scratch it’s not real pastry. It is. I am terrible at making pastry and I wouldn’t inflict it upon anyone.

If you’re making the pastry yourself or mixing it from a packet wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest before you roll it out.

While your sausage mix and pastry are getting to the point where you can combine them you can either follow the principle of clear as you go or sit down and have a cup of tea or coffee. I do the latter because the washing up isn’t going anywhere.

Roll the pastry out to the thickness that you prefer, put the sausage meat in the centre of the pastry in a line and then put very thinly sliced apple on the top Roll the pastry over the meat. If you can get a YouTube video of this it will be easier to watch than my poor instructions.

Cut them to size, place them on a greased baking tray and brush with a well beaten egg. Bake for 20 minutes on 200 C.

Any sausage meat left over can be shaped into patties and popped under the grill for breakfast or in a bap as part of a quick lunch.