Festive Juniper Sausage Rolls – Bangers & Balls

There’s something about these sausage rolls that gets the taste buds tingling for a portion of festive cheer. Yes,I know it’s too early- but if you dry out your foraged juniper berries you can make and save a rub to last right through to the winter months. (Check out our latest Foraging Fairy-tales book for this recipe and many more)For a meat free alternative, I like to use a selection of seasonal mushrooms that I finely chop and cook in olive oil and complimentary herbs- rosemary, thyme and tarragon.

  • 1 tbsp Juniper Rub (Find the recipe in our latest Fairy-tales book)
  • 1 cup Breadcrumbs (I tend to either have a crust or two of stale bread in the back of the bread bin, or make some toast. Either way a second or two in a whizzer and you have bread crumbs)
  • 1 lb Sausage Meat or Seasonal Mushrooms or 450g.
  • 1 Packet Pre Rolled Puff Pastry
  • Pour your breadcrumbs and Juniper Rub into the mixing bowl and swirl it around so they mix together nicely.
  • Chuck your sausage meat or meat free alternative into the bowl and using your hands mix it all together so that the breadcrumbs are evenly distributed.
  • Lay out the pastry on a clean surface
  • Take a handful of sausage mix and roll it, well, into a sausage!
  • Do this until the bowl is empty. You should have several sausages ready to roll!
  • Lightly dust a kitchen counter with flour and roll out your pastry. Line your sausages up along the edge, spacing about 2cm between each sausage and 1cm at the edges. Use a pizza cutter to cut the pastry, starting in the gaps between the sausages and cutting all the way down. You should have long strips that are ready to roll!
  • Let’s get rolling- start at the sausage end of your pastry and roll up each of your sausages, leaving about 1cm unrolled seam to seal.
  • Squidge the extra 1cm of pastry into the roll to seal and pop in the oven.
  • Put the sausage rolls into a preheated oven (at 180C or350F) oven for 20-25 minus or until golden brown and flakyand serve warm or cold with Hedgerow Hot Sauce (recipe also available in Foraging Fairy-tales: Hedgerow Festival).