These Caramelized Apple and Fennel, Pork Sausage Rolls will be the best sausage rolls you have ever had! Flaky, golden brown puff pastry filled with juicy, well seasoned pork mixed with sweet and spicy caramelized apple!EASY - This recipe is easy to make. The filling has an extra step to caramelize onions and apple, but it adds so much flavor to the filling. Assembling and baking is easy as well. US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Common Measurement Conversions. Weight measurements (when given) are recommended for accurate results.
7-8ozGranny Smith applescored and cut into 1 cm thick batons and sliced thinly (as seen in image above)
5ozfinely diced sweet onion
3tbspwhite sugar
2tbspapple cider
¼tspsalt
½tspchilli flakes
Sausage Rolls
1lbpork
Caramelized apple
2large cloves of garlicchopped finely
1tspthyme leaves
2tspheaped fennel seedsdry roasted and ground to a powder (about 2 tsp of ground fennel)
½tspsalt
¼cupbread crumbs
2tbspbuttermelted
pepper
generous pinch of cayenne pepper
2sheets of frozen puff pastry9 x 9 inches
To finish
1egg - for egg wash
Sea salt flakes
Sesame seedsblack or white / poppy seeds
Instructions
Heat 2 tbsp of butter in a nonstick pan. When melted, add the onions & sugar and saute over medium heat until the onions start to turn golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Add the apple, apple cider and salt and cook for another 20-30 minutes until the liquid is reduced and the apples have caramelized. Add the chilli flakes and cook for a few more minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
In a bowl, place the ground pork, breadcrumbs and pour the melted butter over the bread crumbs, and then add the cooled caramelized apple, chopped garlic, thyme leaves, ground fennel, salt pepper and cayenne pepper. Mix with your hands or a spoon, until everything is mixed through well. Divide the mix into four portions.
Lightly flour your work-space with some AP flour. Place one puff pastry sheet on your bench and cut it in half, so you have two 9 x 4.5 inch rectangles. Take a single portion of the sausage filling and while leaving a 1 cm margin, place the filling along one long edge of the puff pastry rectangle, evenly. Brush both long edges with some egg wash, and carefully roll up the pastry sheet with the sausage filling, until the ends overlap by about 1 cm. Gently pinch the two ends together to create a seal. Place the seam side down, and cut this roll into 4 equal parts (with a back and forth motion using a serrated knife so that you cut evenly and smoothly). Place the 4 sausage rolls on the baking tray, slightly apart.
Repeat with the remaining puff pastry sheet to make 16 sausage rolls in total.
Using a small sharp knife, make two slits on the top of each sausage roll. Brush the tops generously with egg wash (highly recommended) and sprinkle some salt and sesame seeds (optional).
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, and then increase the heat to 375°F and bake for a further 30 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Take out of the oven, allow them to rest for a few minutes, and serve while warm.
Notes
FREEZING -You can make these sausage rolls ahead of time and freeze them, covered with plastic wrap (before brushing the tops with egg wash and baking) on a sheet pan, and then once they are frozen, store in a box with parchment paper between separate layers. Then a few hours before you need to serve, set them out on a baking tray (covered) and defrost, brush with egg wash and bake as per the recipe. If you bake them from frozen, they will take a longer to bake.