British

Spiced Lamb Sausage Rolls

March  2, 2022
5
5 Ratings
Photo by Laura Edwards
  • Prep time 2 hours 15 minutes
  • Cook time 35 minutes
  • Serves 8 to 12
Author Notes

Beige food doesn’t get better than a good flaky sausage roll, and when still warm from the oven, they become a particular weakness of mine. These are inspired by my favorite North African merguez sausages, packed with lamb, cumin, and spicy harissa. I’ve also added in some dried apricots for a little sweetness. Serve them with a cooling yogurt dip on the side—just mix plain yogurt with some chopped fresh mint and coriander (cilantro).

Recipe excerpted with permission from A Good Day to Bake by Benjamina Ebuehi, published by Quadrille, March 2022.Benjamina Ebuehi

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Spiced Lamb Sausage Rolls
Ingredients
  • For the rough puff pastry
  • 275 grams (9¾ ounces, 2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 225 grams (8 ounces, 1 cup) cold unsalted butter, diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 7 to 8 tablespoons ice-cold water
  • For the filling
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 red onion, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced/grated
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1 tablespoon harissa paste
  • 400 grams (14 ounces) minced (ground) lamb
  • 50 grams (1¾ ounces) dried apricots, roughly chopped
  • 50 grams (1¾ ounces, 1 cup) fresh bread crumbs
  • Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 teaspoons sesame seeds and nigella (black onion) seeds
Directions
  1. To make the pastry, add the flour, butter, and salt to a bowl. Use your fingertips to briefly rub the butter into the flour. The mixture should be quite coarse—you want some larger pieces of butter. Add the water a tablespoon at a time and mix with a table knife until you have a rough dough. You may not need all the water.
  2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it into a large rectangle, about 1 centimeter (½ inch) thick, with a short edge facing you. Fold the top third of the dough down to the middle then fold the bottom third on top of that (like folding a letter—if the pastry starts to get too warm or sticky, let it firm up in the refrigerator). Give the dough a quarter turn, roll it out to a large rectangle again, and repeat the folding. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
  3. Roll out the chilled pastry and fold as above one more time, then chill for another 30 minutes or until ready to use. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/400°F/gas mark 6). Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
  4. To make the filling, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the onion, and fry for a few minutes until softened. Add the garlic and spices and cook for another minute until the mixture is fragrant. Stir in the harissa, then remove from the heat and pour into a bowl. Add the lamb to the bowl along with the chopped apricots, bread crumbs, lemon zest, and salt. Use your hands to mix, making sure everything is well combined.
  5. Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll out the pastry to a large rectangle about 3 millimeters (⅛ inch) thick. Cut this lengthways down the middle to give you two long rectangles. Place a layer of the filling mixture down the middle of each rectangle and brush one edge of each piece with beaten egg. Pull over the other side of pastry to encase the sausage, pressing to seal. Slice each rectangle into 6 sausage rolls (or 4 if you want bigger ones) and place them on the baking sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up.
  6. Brush the rolls with egg wash and sprinkle on the seeds. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden and the bottoms are cooked. Cool a little before eating.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

5 Reviews

Tettelestai July 4, 2023
These were very good! The rolls were a hit and part of our culinary journey to 'eat' around the world.
whittemd March 13, 2023
Thanks for this recipe! This was my first time making rough puff and it was delicious! Easy and delicious, best combo.
Joy! March 16, 2022
Thank you Benjamina for sharing this recipe with us on Food52. My family loved it. I did incorporate a few riffs - I used all butter puff pastry from Trader Joes. 1 sheet cut down the middle length-wise to get 2 rolls which I then cut into four pieces. I used ground pork. I thought it to be a bit to lean so I added a tablespoon of olive oil to give the meat some body. I did not have harissa but I did have a can of Chipotle so I chopped some up and used that plus a 1/2 teaspoon of caraway seeds and called it good. I did fry off a little meat mixture in the pan I sautéed the onions in to ensure the flavors where dynamite. Last riff is I used Beagle Everything from Trader Joes for the garnish on top after doing the egg wash on each roll. I will be making this again. Next time I plan to use hot Italian sausage meat!!! EnJoy!
Xena F. March 13, 2022
I plan to use this recipe. Explained simply.
MeMeCherry March 7, 2022
This was not only VERY delicious, it was a fun challenge!