Not the prettiest things in the world ...

I can't explain the logic behind the thought, but for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to make sausage rolls. For the past few Thanksgivings, I've been going for easy recipes, with an emphasis on the recipe making just enough and not too much. Sausage rolls, however, have little to do with American cuisine and almost nothing to do with Thanksgiving.

I first sampled a sausage roll in England, at the school café/bakery, where I'd grab a quick bite to eat between classes. Having tired of the cheese-and-onion white bread sandwiches, I decided to try one of these frankly unappealing-looking rolls. It wasn't life-changing, but it certainly tasted a lot better than I'd expected. Fast forward a handful of years to Sydney, Australia, and the omnipresence of Pie Face and sausage rolls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Maxine meets Sausage Roll again.

The sausage roll, made properly, is a greasy, artery-clogging thing. But tasty, oh-so-tasty. I decided to make my own, slightly healthier and definitely less greasy version, adapted from this Epicurious recipe.

Sausage Rolls
Yields about 24 rolls (long), or 48 bite-sized rolls

Ingredients
1 pound of minced pork
1 package (17 ounces) of frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 teaspoon each of dried oregano, basil, rosemary, or any herb you like
1/2 a carrot, shredded
1/2 a white onion, chopped
1 egg, beaten
Salt and ground pepper
Ketchup or barbecue sauce, if desired

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and mix the pork, dried herbs, onion, carrot and salt and pepper until well-distributed.

Roll out the puff pastry into one large rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. Place the sheet so the wide side of the rectangle is to the left. Form the meat into a log about 1 inch thick and long enough to fit the width of the pastry. Lay the log along the entire edge and spread a little bit of ketchup or barbecue sauce if you'd like extra flavor (I think this is how the Aussies do it). Roll the pastry around the sausage, brush with beaten eggs where the edges meet, and cut so the pastry slightly overlaps. Repeat the process with the remaining sausage meat and pastry.

Line up all the sausage rolls making sure the seam on each is at the bottom and not showing. Brush the tops with the eggs and cut the sausage rolls into either 1 1/2-or 3-inch logs. Spread the logs about one inch apart on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown and the meat is cooked, about 15 to 20 minutes.


These make a really nice snack (or breakfast, lunch, or dinner), and can be frozen and reheated to eat later. Happy Thanksgiving!