Vegetarian ‘Sausage’ Rolls

Note:
Ever since I watched Amanda and Brad make sausage rolls in Adelaide, I’ve had a craving. Only problem is, I don’t like eating meat nor gluten. So I searched high and low for the best vegetarian sausage roll and I found it here.

I totally stuffed up the first batch. I think I over-blended the ingredients and replaced a couple of key ingredients with what I had in the cupboard… which made a mess of it.

But, through trial and error (and a trip to the shops), I managed to work out a delicious recipe using different stuff to make a vegetarian and gluten-free “sausage” roll. This is my 100th post (WOOO!) and it celebrates life’s imperfections, both in and out of the kitchen.

Ingredients:
3 sheets of gluten-free puff pastry sheets
1/2 a cup of gluten-free breadcrumbs (I like rice crumbs)
80g of pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 onion, cut into 8 parts
300g of silken tofu
1 cup of rolled oats (oats have gluten so I used 1/2 cup of cooked rice and 1/2 cup of cooked buckwheat)
1 cube of fake beef stock (I used Massel)
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
3 tablespoons of Tamari (wheat-free soy sauce)
2 teaspoons of ground black pepper
1 lightly beaten egg for brushing pastry (or you could use soy milk)
sesame seeds

Instructions:
1. Defrost puff pastry sheets on bench and heat up the oven to 200 degrees centigrade.
2. Lightly toast pine nuts by placing in a fry pan over a low heat or in an oven tray.
3. Use a food processor (or chop and mash til your heart’s content) to blend the pine nuts until they’re roughly chopped.
4. Add the pine nuts to a large mixing bowl. Add the rice crumbs to the bowl.
5. Blend the onion until it’s finely chopped and add to bowl.
6. Use the food processor to whizz up the tofu until it’s a big puddle of mush. Add it to the mixing bowl, as well as the rest of the filling ingredients: rolled oats (or replacements), a crumbled-up stock cube, garlic powder, soy sauce and pepper. Stir everything together well.
7. Lightly grease a baking tray.
8. Slice each sheet of puff pastry in half so that it makes two rectangles.
9. Spoon the filling down the centre third of each pastry rectangle; lightly brush another third with egg or soy milk and then roll the pastry, starting from the empty third and tucking it into the brushed third. It’s really important you roll the pastries as tight as possible!
10. Slice the roll into halves or thirds and place them on the baking tray.
11. Brush the top of each roll with egg/milk and sprinkle some sesame seeds.
12. Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Unfortunately gluten-free puff pastry doesn’t go very flaky, but it’s better than nothing.
13. Serve with lots of tomato sauce or home-made chutney or sweet chilli sauce.

Kudos:
Thanks to the cooks at ‘Where’s the Beef?’  http://herestheveg.blogspot.com/2008/12/december-7-2008-vegan-sausage-rolls.html

VEGETARIAN ‘SAUSAGE ROLLS’ REVISITED… 17th January 2011

Note:
Last weekend, my Nana turned 90… awwww! To celebrate, we had a lovely afternoon tea and my Mum made a different recipe for Vegetarian ‘Sausage’ Rolls to the one I’ve published. They were, by far, much better tasting than the ones I made late last year and the meat eaters amongst us didn’t notice the difference!

Ingredients:
3-4 sheets of gluten-free puff pastry sheets
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup of pecans, chopped finely
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 vegetable stock cube
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons of Tamari or wheat-free soy sauce
250g of silken tofu (or cottage cheese if you’re not dairy free)
1 cup of oats — to make it gluten free use 1 cup of  brown rice flakes or 1 cup of almond meal
1/2 cup gluten-free breadcrumbs (I like rice crumbs)
Ground pepper, to taste
Sesame seeds

Instructions:
1. Defrost puff pastry sheets on bench and heat up the oven to 200 degrees centigrade.
2. Lightly toast pine nuts by placing in a fry pan over a low heat or in an oven tray.
3. Use a food processor (or chop and mash til your heart’s content) to blend the pine nuts until they’re roughly chopped.
4. Add the pine nuts to a large mixing bowl. Add the rice crumbs to the bowl.
5. Blend the onion until it’s finely chopped and add to bowl.
6. Use the food processor to whizz up the tofu until it’s a big puddle of mush. Add it to the mixing bowl, as well as the rest of the filling ingredients: rolled oats (or replacements), a crumbled-up stock cube, garlic, Tamari/soy sauce and pepper to taste. Stir everything together well.
7. Lightly grease a baking tray.
8. Slice each sheet of puff pastry in half so that it makes two rectangles.
9. Spoon the filling down the centre third of each pastry rectangle; lightly brush another third with egg or soy milk and then roll the pastry, starting from the empty third and tucking it into the brushed third. It’s really important you roll the pastries as tight as possible!
10. Slice the roll into halves or thirds and place them on the baking tray.
11. Brush the top of each roll with egg/milk and sprinkle some sesame seeds.
12. Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Unfortunately gluten-free puff pastry doesn’t go very flaky, but it’s better than nothing.
13. Serve with tomato sauce, home-made chutney or sweet chilli sauce.

Kudos:
Thanks to my Mum for her recipe. Dee-li-shous!