Chicken and Bacon Sausage Rolls

Sausage rolls are an old favourite of mine, harking back to the days of single-digit year old parties and after-school snacks. I'd like to think these ones are just a touch more classy than your typical plastic-wrapped sausage rolls that you get at the petrol station with the questionable meat inside them. These sausage rolls have chicken mince and bacon (score!) as the filling and are awesomely tasty, if I do say so myself :)

The recipe comes from my much beloved Bourke Street Bakery cookbook. The cookbook includes their much-loved pork & fennel and lamb & harissa sausage rolls as well, but I was surprised to find a recipe for these chicken and bacon sausage rolls because I'd never actually seen them in the shop. Seeing that it was "the sausage roll of choice" for the Bourke Street Bakery staff was enough to make want to bake them, ASAP!

I took the easy route out and used store-bought puff pastry instead of making my own, and the amounts in the recipe for the filling got me through about 5 sheets of puff pastry. I've made these sausage rolls multiple times now and every time they turn out perfectly. They are also pretty easy to make compared to some of the other recipes in the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook, especially if you cheat like me and use the store bought puff.

The recipe makes a heck of a lot of sausage rolls, which is great if you're entertaining lots of people, but it also means that you'll probably end up with leftovers. But not to worry, leftovers just means that you get to eat more of them! Simply reheat them in a slow oven and they'll still taste great.

Chicken and Bacon Sausage Rolls
Recipe adapted from Bourke Street Bakery: The Ultimate Baking Companion

Olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
120g (about 2) brown onions, finely chopped
375g bacon slices, finely chopped
1.2kg chicken mince
55g dry breadcrumbs
10g salt
5g white pepper
about 1kg puff pastry (4-5 store bought sheets)
1 egg
100g milk

1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until just starting to turn golden, then add the onion and cook until softened. Add the bacon and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly until aromatic. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

2. Put the bacon mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the chicken mince, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix the meat quite forcefully for about 3 minutes to work the proteins in the meat. You will notice that the mixture becomes a little bit stickier.

3. Roll out the puff pastry into a 92x32cm rectangle and cut into six rectangles about 15x30cm each. If using store bought puff pastry, cut each sheet into half. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Make the egg wash by beating the egg with the milk, and adding a pinch of salt.

4. Take a handful of the filling and roll into a log about 3cm in diameter and as long as your puff pastry rectangle. Add more filling if your log isn't fat or long enough. Place each log lengthways in the centre of your pastry rectangle and brush one long edge with egg wash. Firmly fold the pastry over, pressing to enclose the log tightly and leave the ends open. Cut each roll into two for large sausage rolls, or six for bite-sized sausage rolls. Place the rolls onto a prepared baking tray, seam side down. Brush the tops with egg wash.

5. Reduce the oven temperature to 190ºC and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown and oozing chicken juice.