Game and sausage rolls with brown sauce recipe

These game and sausage rolls make a quirky starter, or a lovely picnic snack. You can chop up the rolls into bite-size chunks and serve with this delicious homemade brown sauce.

Prep time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 60 minutes

MAKES

Two large rolls

INGREDIENTS

For the brown sauce (this makes about 250ml):

• 450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

• 115g prunes

• 1 small onion, finely chopped

• 125ml red wine vinegar, or as needed

• ½ tbsp ground ginger

• ½ tsp ground nutmeg

• ½ tsp allspice

• ½ tsp cayenne

• 2 tsp salt

• 225g sugar

• 50ml water

For the game and sausage rolls:

• Oil, for cooking

• 1 small onion, finely chopped

• 1 garlic clove, chopped

• 1 juniper berry, crushed

• 125g good-quality sausage meat

• 125g minced game meat

• ½ tsp chopped rosemary

• Flour, for dusting

• 250g puff pastry or quick flaky pastry

• 1 egg, beaten

METHOD

1. To make the sauce, add everything to a large pan. Cook over a low heat until the fruit is soft and has broken down to a thick consistency. Transfer to a blender and blitz until smooth, then check the flavour and add more vinegar if necessary. Store in jars or bottles in the fridge.

2. For the rolls, add a dash of oil to a frying pan and cook the onion and garlic with the juniper until the onion is soft but not coloured. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

3. Crumble the sausage and game meat into a bowl and add the cooled onion, mixing it well and seasoning with salt, pepper and the chopped rosemary.

4. Take a teaspoonful of the mixture and pat it into a mini burger, then fry this until cooked to taste, to test the seasoning. Adjust the raw mixture if necessary.

5. Mould the raw mixture into two long logs about 33cm long and 3cm wide (a little flour on your hands can help if the mixture is very sticky). Set the logs on a tray in the fridge.

6. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/Gas 7. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to make two oblongs, each approximately 12 x 35cm.

7. Place one meat log on top of each pastry piece and bring the pastry together to seal, using a little water to dampen the pastry sides. Turn each roll over so the seal is underneath.

8. Place both sausage rolls on a lined baking sheet and glaze them with the beaten egg. Score diagonally along the rolls with a knife.

9. Cook for 20-25 minutes until a nice golden brown. Allow to cool slightly, then cut with a bread knife and serve hot with the brown sauce.