Homemade Sausage Rolls

Pin It

Sometimes there is just nothing cuter than a guy in love. I'm such a sap that when I hear or see people being kind and generous to their special someones, but what gets my heart a-melting is when he or she is proud of their partner. I feel sorry for anyone Veggie Dad has cornered on a club-going Friday night, tipsily detailing everything I've ever done as if it is the second coming of cheesus.

A staunch veg friend of mine emailed me recently with a recipe he wanted to pass on from his girlfriend. "All props to her, I'm just the middleman", he says. My heart melts. How sweet that he took the time to send me something I might like because his girlfriend made it and he was so enthused by what she'd done he had to share.

I posted a picture on both Instagram and Twitter when I was done, and was immediately awash with people wanting to know how to make it. I knew it would be a hit! I love a good sausage roll, but they can be very dodgy, and veg ones are no exception. This one, true to most recipes like this, looks and sounds like a drunk three-year-old randomly dumped the ingredients into a blender. However, it works. I don't know how, but soldier on - the end results justify the means!

Here is Tara's recipe - and if you make it, let me know how you go and I will pass it on! Thanks Tara <3

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
½ cup crushed walnuts
2 ½ tabs. Soy sauce
1 medium onion
1 ½ cups breadcrumbs
1 ½ cups rolled oats
1tsp dry vegie stock
2 tbs. Grated Parmesan cheese
3 sheets frozen puff pastry

METHOD:
1. Blend walnuts, eggs, cottage cheese, onion and soy sauce together.
2. Mix rolled oats, breadcrumbs, seasoning and Parmesan cheese together. Add blended mix.
3. Cut pastry sheets in half and spoon a layer of mixture down the middle of each sheet.
4. Roll up the sheets and seal with milk.
5. Cut each roll into four and brush with milk or melted butter.
6. Place on a greased tray (I just used baking paper) and bake at 180 degrees Celsius fan forced for about 30 minutes.




Enjoy!

Fourth of July Coney Island Hot Dogs and a Cherry Coke Float

This is what I was doing this time last year - watching the fireworks over the National Mall in Washington, DC.

I could feel the heat rising through the blanket I on which I was sitting from the concrete below. It had been a super-hot day, the news stations and papers filled with pictures of children sitting in buckets under hoses, and talk of record-breaking temperatures. I had presented my sweaty face to the Lincoln Memorial,

Mr Lincoln, Mr Lincoln!

I had gotten up close and personal with President Obama,

I had watched the annual Independence Day parade along Constitution Avenue - lots of marching bands, baton-twirling and giant-helium-balloon-holding.

I had waded through a throng of patriotic people to be that guy that gets their photo taken with the White House. I also nearly got my head taken off when I stepped a toe outside the barrier keeping people on the sidewalk. At least I wasn't part of the crew getting their photo taken with the back of the President's house...

I had sought refuge in the cool interior of the United States Holocaust Museum, and I had stood on the steps right where Dr Martin Luther King, Jr made his "I Have a Dream" speech. I had looked out over the Reflecting Pool and had visions of Jenny splashing into it in search of Forrest Gump.

Forrest!

 I had also watched the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island on TV from a food court earlier that day (54 hot dogs in 10 minutes, people!), and it was that memory that made me decide what to make to help celebrate this year.

We eat a lot of hot dogs in the Veggie Household - they're one of the few mock meats we truly like. Our concoctions usually consist of ketchup, mustard, onion, pickles, relish and cheese. Occasionally we have chili dogs, and occasionally I like to branch out and try something new on my poor guinea pig husband.

This year I decided on Coney Island Hot Dogs, which are very specific in their preparation. We couldn't help but doctor them up somewhat, although I've made them here in their original veggie form.

Not actually made in Coney Island, but in Michigan, the hot dog is topped with a beanless chili, a strip or two of yellow mustard, and lots of chopped white onion.

And it is good.

Especially when you add extra ketchup and cheese...

And a Cherry Coke Float.

Happy Fourth of July!

 To make the chili:

Heat one 300g packet veggie mince with one can diced tomato and 1/2 cup water. Add 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, a sprinkle of cinnamon, basil and as much chili powder as you want. Add a crushed veggie beef stock cube. If it is still too soupy, you can thicken it with a teaspoon of cornflour in a tablespoon of hot water.

To make the float:

Ice cream. Cherry Coke. Mix.