Last weekend I was treated to some very special homemade sausage rolls, one of the most Australian foods I can think of. All up I've now lived in the most livable city in the world aka Melbourne for 3 years now but whenever someone asks me, what foot team I support, I still can't answer that question. However, I quite enjoy going to the stadium to catch a game.
So last week Mr. L suggested we go to the MCG to catch a finals game and bought tickets for North Melbourne vs Essendon for a 6:50pm game on a Saturday night. Saturday day I had to sit the IELTS test (don't ask, long story!) which took up most of my day, when I came home, the house smelled amazing.
Mr. L had made sausage rolls for us to take to the Footy, but not your average sausage rolls, these were fancy moroccan lamb and harissa sausage rolls. We packed a few of the still warm sausage rolls and also some tomato chutney and had the most amazing picnic in a packed stadium. We even brought dessert, left-over chocolate fudge tart and strawberries; it wasn't really the normal footy grub that you usually get and it was certainly the first time I've had chocolate tart and strawberries while being surrounded by footy supporters cheering on their teams!
Mr. L got the recipe of the Gourmet Traveller website and tweaked it a bit, I loved the taste, slightly spicy and the sultanas went really well with the lamb. Good thing Grand Final Day is coming up soon, he can definitely make these again for when we watch a game, even at home!
Moroccan Lam and Harissa Sausage Rolls 600 minced lamb
30g harissa
50g sultanas
1/2 apple
1/2 leek
2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tbsp ras-el-hanout
500g puff pastry
1 egg, lightly whisked
Wash and chop leeks and apple finely. Brown leeks in a little bit of oil in a pan for a couple of minutes. Add the ras-el-hanout, apple and sultanas. Cook for a few minutes until soft. Set aside and let cool. In a large bowl, combine lamb, harissa, parsley, cumin and the cooled down mixture from the pan and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out puff pastry to a 3mm-thick rectangle. Spoon the lamb mixture along longest edge, roll over pastry to enclose, brush eggwash along pastry edge and press to seal. Trim along length of pastry and repeat with remaining mixture and pastry.
Preheat oven to 200C. Brush sausage rolls with eggwash and cut into 5cm lengths. Place on baking paper-lined oven trays and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Serve immediately. Unbaked sausage rolls can be frozen for up to 1 month. Bake from frozen at 200C for 25 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
