Sausage Rolls

Serves 8
Time: 45 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low or moderate salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

2 packets Genius gluten free puff pastry (a)
400 g fresh beef mince (b)
300 g fresh chicken mince (b)
Dark green tips of 1 large leek (c)
1 large choko (d)
1 tbsp dried chives
1 tsp salt
1 egg
2 tbsp SoGood soymilk
1 large carrot – moderate salicylate option

Foodnotes

(a) Genius gluten free frozen puff pastry can be found in some Coles supermarkets in Australia
(b) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(c) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(d) Choko is also known as chayote, see photos here. Choko is low FODMAP for fructans at 1/2 cup (84 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App, 2018)

Instructions
  1. Thaw pastry in fridge within 24 of making sausage rolls
  2. Remove pastry from fridge 20 mins before rolling out and allow to warm to room temperature
  3. Preheat oven to 200 deg C
  4. Rinse dark green tips of leek and chop finely
  5. Chop thick skin off choko and remove the core. Grate the choko.
  6. For moderate salicylate sausage rolls, peel the carrot and then grate it
  7. Combine the two types of mince, salt, dried chives, green tips of leek, grated choko and, in the case of moderate salicylates, the carrot
  8. Beat the egg and SoGood soymilk
  9. Roll out each packet of pastry as thinly as you can, ideally to 30 cm x 30 cm
  10. Cut the pastry sheet into two equal rectangles
  11. Place one quarter of the mince mixture along the pastry sheet lengthwise, about 3 cm in from the edge
  12. On the opposite long edge score the pastry with a fork and then brush with the egg mixture
  13. Roll the sausage roll up, starting from the side closest to the mince mixture and ending on the scored side. There should be an overlap of several cms of pastry and the scored pastry should end up on the bottom side of the sausage roll
  14. Brush the top and sides of the pastry with the egg mixture
  15. Cut the sausage roll in half
  16. Repeat for the remainder of the pastry and mince mixture
  17. Place the sausage rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper with at least 1 cm around the sausage roll
  18. Bake at 200 deg C for about 35 mins, or until pastry is golden brown and the inside is cooked through
  19. Serve immediately or freeze immediately to prevent amine build-up
Personal Notes

I’ve been wanting to try sausage rolls with choko instead of apple for a while now, but then chokos went out of season and my new greengrocer doesn’t stock them. But I paid a visit to South Melbourne Market and was rewarded with big, juicy chokos, so they are back on the menu for now! Just be careful with how many sausage rolls you eat – 84 g of choko is low FODMAP but it becomes high for fructans by 168 g (The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018). One large sausage roll is low FODMAP and enough for lunch. If you are going to have it for a main meal, I would add a salad as a side – for example the friends-and-family friendly salad.

I cooked my sausage rolls for 35 mins but they were at the bottom of the oven for most of that time, so I suspect they would need less time at the top of the oven – best to keep an eye on them after 20 mins. As much as it is tempting to cut the sausage rolls up and make party sausage rolls, the mince mixture does brown on the ends and this is minimised by cooking large sausage rolls – see the photo of the party sausage rolls I attempted below. If you want party size rolls, I would recommend cutting them up with a sharp knife after cooking. The sausage rolls freeze quite well, although the pastry is slightly soggy on defrosting.

My brother was visiting for a weekend and having some friends over to my place so we cooked these sausage rolls. He made some “normal” ones and I made these, and I definitely didn’t feel like I was missing out! The choko keeps the sausage rolls moist, so they are still nice to eat even without tomato sauce.

Chicken and Leek Puffs


Makes 8 triangles, serves 4
Time: 1 hr
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients – Puffs

2 x 400 g boxes Genius Gluten Free Puff Pastry (a)
300 g diced chicken thighs (b)
45 g dark green tips of leek (c)
12 g / 6 dark green spring onion tips (d)
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
1 tbsp canola oil (e)
1/8 tsp citric acid
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp gluten free cornflour (f)
rice flour for dusting
1 egg

Ingredients – optional dipping sauce

120 mL water
1 tsp citric acid
2/3 tsp salt
2/3 cup white sugar

Foodnotes

(a) Genius Gluten Free Puff Pastry can be found in some Coles supermarkets.
(b) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician).
(c) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow leeks and spring onions.
(d) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321).
(e) Use gluten free cornflour, also known as cornstarch, which is a fine white flour. Corn flour from wheat contains wheat and gluten while yellow corn flour or maize flour is higher in salicylates.

Instructions
  1. One day before making chicken and leek puffs, defrost pastry in the fridge
  2. Remove pastry from the fridge and allow to warm to room temperature
  3. Preheat oven to 180 deg C (fan forced)
  4. Rinse dark green tips of leek and dark green tips of spring onion. Chop finely, keeping separate.
  5. Cut the diced chicken into smaller pieces
  6. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil to a small frying pan over medium-high heat
  7. Add the chicken to the pan, and stir continuously until the chicken is sealed, about 5 min
  8. Add the leek to the pan and cook until leek is soft, about 2 min
  9. Mix cornflour in with half of the chicken stock and make a slurry
  10. Add chicken stock, cornflour/stock mixture, citric acid and salt to the frying pan. Mix well
  11. Turn the frying pan down to medium heat and cook until the mixture has thickened. The mixture should be creamy with minimal liquid.
  12. Roll out each sheet of puff pastry to a 20 cm x 20 cm square.
  13. Using a sharp knife, cut each sheet of pastry into four 10 cm x 10 cm squares.
  14. Spoon the chicken mixture onto one triangular side of each small square of pastry. Do not overfill.
  15. On each square, fold the pastry over to form a triangle and seal the edges by pressing with a fork. This may be necessary on both sides.
  16. Beat the egg in a cup and lightly brush over the pastry with a pastry brush. If you don’t have a pastry brush, a piece of folded paper towel also works.
  17. Place the chicken and leek puffs on an oven tray lined with baking paper, and bake at 180 deg C for 25 min.
  18. Serve immediately as an entree, snack or main course, with optional dipping sauce. If you don’t eat them immediately, freeze them immediately as they contain meat.
  19. To make optional dipping sauce combine ingredients in a saucepan, simmer on high heat for 1 minute with regular stirring.
Personal Notes

I have to thank one of my colleagues for the idea for this recipe. He was surprised that I made a lamb, leek and lentil pie when his usual recipe was for chicken and leek pie. I didn’t realise chicken and leek were so commonly paired together! So I came up with this recipe – I’m sure it could also be used to make a pie with either Genius gluten free puff pastry or shortcrust pastry. When I made these I actually only had one packet of the puff pastry on hand, and I couldn’t fit all the mixture in the puffs. I ended up eating the filling on its own, which also tastes good. You could eat half the filling at once and it would still be low FODMAP and failsafe – the only significant FODMAP-containing ingredients are the green tips of the leek (safe at 28 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App, 2018) and the homemade chicken stock, which contains green tips of leek and celery (low FODMAP at 75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018).

The dipping sauce is an adapted recipe from Thai Cooking Class by Somi Anuntra Millar and Patricia Lake, it has a lot of sugar in it but is a nice addition, especially if you serve the puffs as a party snack. The original recipe poured the dipping sauce over finely chopped carrot, cucumber and coriander. I haven’t tried it yet, but if you tolerate moderate salicylates, you could pour the dipping sauce over very finely chopped peeled carrot and peeled cucumber. I tried to make a potato bake to go with the puffs but it did not turn out well – a bit of optimising is required on that recipe before I share it!

This week we had an event at Uni for International Women’s Day – there was a talk from a eminent international Chemistry professor and a shared lunch with the other female students. It was great to put some names to faces in the School and meet some new people. I brought along these chicken and leek puffs and fit right in having a delicious lunch while the others had pizza.