the Nelson sausage roll
Chef’s note:
This humble sausage roll, nicknamed ‘the Nelson – with love from Norfolk’, is dedicated to so many of the wonderful producers here in Norfolk, whose ingredients I used in making this dish. You can buy these sausage rolls daily at my Hodson & Co Deli and Cheese Room in Aylsham – and look out for my top secret recipe Easter special – the hot cross sausage roll! This is a collaboration between Hodson & Co and Coxford’s Butchers, also in Aylsham.
- a couple of strands of Norfolk Saffron
- 1 teaspoon Crush cold-pressed rapeseed oil
- 650 grams sausage meat from Tim Allen
- 285 grams Fruit Pig Company fresh blood black pudding (broken into 1cm pieces)
- 15 milliliters Wild Knight English Vodka
- 2 tablespoons Candi’s spiced carrot chutney
- 1 pinch Maldon sea salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 500 grams puff pastry
- flour (for dusting)
- 1 egg (for egg wash)
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas mark 4, and grease and line a baking sheet.
Crush the saffron by using a pestle and mortar, then add to the rapeseed oil.
Put the sausage meat, black pudding, vodka, chutney, seasoning, and saffron mixture into a large bowl and mix well by hand.
Roll the pastry out to a rectangle around 3mm thickness, flouring both sides as you roll.
Place two rolls of the sausage meat mixture horizontally across the sheet of pastry, leaving around 10cm between each roll.
Egg wash the pastry and fold it from top to middle and cut. Crimp the edges with a fork.
Cut into six and place on the baking sheet.
Egg wash the outer pasty and ends, then bake for 20-30 minutes.
Allow to cool a little, and then serve with a BBQ sauce, such as the one from Give it Some Beans.
In 2017, Charlie Hodson entered – and won – The Great Sausage Roll Off, held at the Red Lion in Barnes. This is his iconic recipe, perfect for those heading out and about and enjoying a picnic as spring arrives.
If you love sausages, then check out The Big Norfolk Sausage Bash in Aylsham from 10am on Sunday 22 May. Keep an eye out for Dining in the Home, Charlie’s newest venture launching soon. His Table for Two returns to Hodson & Co this spring, running on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
For more news, follow Hodson & Co on social media or visit www.hodsonco.co.uk