Individual honey mustard sausage plaits

Unilever Kitchen have kindly sent me a selection of their products and have challenged me to share a recipe for serious comfort food to keep us warm and snug this winter. Having got a little fed up with sandwiches for lunch and not being organised enough to make a flask of soup or stew I decided to make some individual sausage plaits. The addition of herbs and honey mustard will give the dish the zing and warmth I’m looking for. Keeping to my theme of minimising waste, they are an excellent way to use up odds and ends of vegetables that otherwise might have to go towards the compost bin.

stork, herb infusions and honey mustard

Makes 4 individual sausage plaits.

Sausage plait

Pastry

75g Stork margarine

160g plain flour

pinch salt

3 to 4 tbsp cold water

• In a large bowl rub the Stork into the flour and salt using the tips of your fingertips.
• When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs use a round ended knife to stir in the water a little at a time.
• Use your hands to bring the last of the pastry together, wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Whilst the pastry is resting make the filling for the sausage plaits. There are no hard and fast rules as to what this must contain. Once you have the sausage and the onion the rest depends on the bottom of your fridge. In my case I had a chunk of butternut squash that needed using. Equally a couple of tomatoes and a courgette would do the job as would half a pepper and a few mushrooms.

Filling

1/2 red onion finely chopped

a handful of vegetables finely chopped, I used butternut squash.

4 sausages, skinned (approx 250g)

1 Knorr herb infusions tub

2 tbsp water

4 tsp Maille Mustard with honey

1 egg beaten

1 tsp oil

• Heat the oil in a pan and sweat down the onion and vegetables, once beginning to soften add in the herb infusions pot and tbsp water.
  

  Herb infusions pot added to the vegetables

  Leave to cook for a further 5 minutes until the water has evaporated and the vegetables are softer. Leave to cool.

• Preheat the oven to 200c
• In a bowl place the sausage meat and the cooled vegetables. Use your hands to combine but don’t reduce to a mush. you want the texture of the ingredients to remain.
• Take the rested pastry from the oven and roll out until the thickness of a pound coin.

• Divide into four quarters.
• Spread a tsp of the mustard down the centre of each piece of pastry. Take a quarter of the sausage meat mixture and lay on top of the mustard.

• Make diagonal cuts in the pastry, overlap on the top of the mixture and place on a baking sheet.
• Brush liberally with egg wash.

• Bake for 20 minutes.

These can be eaten hot with a huge heap of steamed seasonal vegetables, warm with big mug of tea when the mid afternoon slump hits or cold with a squeeze of mayonnaise in a lunchbox.

 

 

I havedecided to also enter this into the Family Foodies challenge as it is Lunchbox ideas this month. Family Foodies is the brain child of Lou at Eat Your Veg although this month it is being hosted by Bangers and Mash.