If you can pinch yourself, (or better yet, someone else, someone who drives you nuts, someone who asked if he could just have a plate [translation: vat] of cooked sausage and not the pastry because he was trying to lose weight; in his world sausage is a diet food), then you can make these! After the sausage mixture is cooked, it's spread onto 1/3 of a pastry sheet, then your pinching skills will be put to use, pinching the edges together to form a roll. Sliced and sprinkled with paprika, they are ready for the oven where they bake into the tastiest little golden brown pillows!
Don't worry if some of the sausage mixture falls out, it's already cooked so just pick it up and eat it and move on, consider it a cook's bonus. While the Aussie's wouldn't typically eat these dipped into anything, we like to dip them in a spicy brown mustard. Although now that I think about it, I can hear my Aussie friend saying she would dip them in toe-mahw-toe sauce, which is ketchup to us and that would be good, too, or you can just toss them into your mouth naked...the sausage rolls being naked, not you, but then if that's your thing, eating sausage rolls naked, who am I to suggest otherwise?!
Aussie Sausage Rolls - Adapted From Melissa Landon, Port Charlotte, Florida, via Taste of Home
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb. bulk pork sausage
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
2 teaspoons minced fresh basil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 teaspoons paprika, divided
1 package (17.3 oz.) frozen puff pastry, thawed according to package directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until hot, then add pork sausage. Using a wooden spoon, break up sausage and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned and almost done, about 6 minutes. Add onions to the sausage and cook for additional 5 to 6 minutes or until onions are just beginning to soften. Stir in chives, basil, garlic, salt, pepper and 1-1/2 teaspoons of the paprika and cook for one minute more. Remove from heat.
On a lightly floured surface, roll each pastry sheet into an 11x10-1/2 inch rectangle. Cut lengthwise into 3 strips. Spread approximately 1/2 cup of the sausage mixture down the center of each strip. Fold over sides, pinching edges to seal, forming a sausage log. (I didn't have any trouble getting the edges to seal but if they won't stick, dip your fingers in water and that will do the trick.) Cut each log into 6 pieces. On a parchment lined , rimmed baking sheet, place sausage rolls, seam side down . Sprinkle tops of rolls with remaining paprika. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Makes 3 dozen.
