Wrap the flavour of Christmas in a neat pastry parcel with these veggie friendly rolls!
With my first vegetarian Christmas coming up, I’ve been mourning the loss of pigs in blankets the last few weeks. Yes, I realise I am doing nothing to quash the ‘all veggies miss bacon’ trope, but while many brands of veggie sausage are almost identical to the real deal, it feels like a good crispy veggie bacon is still a distant dream.
Rather than settle for a lacklustre substitute, I’ve been experimenting with infusing the right level of salty and smoky notes into a delicious veggie sausage roll using among other things, smoked paprika. With flaky pastry adding an essential crispy texture, alongside an extra helping of classic Christmas flavours; think sage, fresh rosemary, and sweet cranberry sauce, these rolls have satisfied even the most ardent meat lovers, and most importantly, put all dreams of pigs in blankets to bed.
Ingredients
8 veggie sausages ( I chose Quorn as I think they are the closest in texture and taste to real sausages)
I pack of ready-rolled puff pastry ( because it’s Christmas, and who has time to make pastry?)
2 tbsp of sage and onion stuffing
1 jar of cranberry sauce
A sprig of fresh rosemary
1 tsp of smoked paprika
2 tsps of dried oregano
Pinch of salt
Splash of milk
1. Preheat the oven to 200c. If using frozen sausages, leave to defrost for an hour so that you can easily cut the sausages in half – this is important for perfect bite sized rolls!
2. Prepare the stuffing according to the pack instructions – this is usually as simple as adding hot water and letting the mixture rehydrate for a few minutes. Finely chop the fresh rosemary and add to the stuffing mixture, along with the smoked paprika and mix well.
3. Roll out your pastry and cut downwards into four strips. Spread each strip with a generous helping of cranberry sauce and the stuffing mixture, being sure to leave at least 1cm of pastry free all the way down, as this will avoid the filling from spilling out when rolling.
4. Place 4 pieces of sausage, end to end down each strip, and fold the ‘free’ pastry over the sausage and filling, crimping closed the join. Cut the rolls into 4.
5. Place the rolls on a baking sheet, brushing with milk and sprinkling with oregano. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. use a skewer to check the sausages are cooked through before serving.
Photo by Alisha Mishra from Pexels
