Perfect party food: massive sausage roll with chutney stripes

This recipe takes the humble sausage roll, that hardworking stalwart of drinks parties and wedding buffets, and supersizes it into a meal deal. And it packs its own condiments, too, in the form of a big stripe of chutney running through the centre.

Massive Sausage Roll with Chutney Stripes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
2 eggs
450g good quality sausage meat
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley or chives
salt and pepper
grating of nutmeg (optional)
4 tbsp good chutney, mushed up if the fruit pieces are very big
flour for dusting
350-400g ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
1 tbsp sesame and poppy seeds

Equipment
Large roasting tin

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7.

Crack one egg into a large mixing bowl and beat lightly, then add the sausage meat and fresh herbs. If it isn’t pre-seasoned, add salt, black pepper and a generous grating of nutmeg. Add 1 tbsp of the chutney and mix well.

Lay a large sheet of greaseproof paper on your work surface. Scatter a little flour over the greaseproof paper and roll out the puff pastry until it’s just shorter than the length of your roasting tin.

Place the pastry in front of you lengthways. Starting 3cm in from the side closest to you, spread the remaining chutney in a thin line all the way up the centre of the pastry.

Place the sausage meat in the centre of the pastry and form a huge sausage, leaving 3cm of pastry clear at each end, and enough pastry on each side to fold over the filling.

Starting 2cm away from the sausage meat, cut 2cm wide strips into the pastry on each side.

In a small bowl, beat the remaining egg, and use it to lightly brush over all the visible pastry.

Tuck the top and bottom flaps of pastry over the filling, then take alternate strips of pastry from each side and fold them over the meat. Make sure each strip slightly overlaps with its opposite number so the filling doesn’t leak during cooking.

Trim and tuck in the flaps so that you have a tight, even plait. Brush all over with beaten egg and sprinkle with the seeds. Lift the roll, on the greaseproof paper, onto the roasting tin.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with a little extra chutney on the side.

Extracted from The Tin & Traybake Cookbook by Sam Gates (Robinson, approx €19.50).