Quinoa and sweet potato sausage rolls

These sausage rolls, filled with lots of good-for-you veggies, pulses, grains and seeds, are great for children who aren’t so fond of their veggies – our young one certainly loves them!

Credit: Hardie Grant Books / Lisa Cohen

• makes

  8

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

It’s a great recipe for getting them involved, too – picking the herbs, peeling the carrot and sweet potato, or brushing the egg wash over the pastry

Ingredients

• 80 g (23/4 oz) quinoa
• 180 g (61/2 oz) du Puy lentils
• 60 g (2 oz) olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, finely chopped
• 1 sweet potato (approx. 250 g / 9 oz), finely chopped
• 1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 140 g (5 oz) parmesan, coarsely grated
• 80 g (2¾ oz) coarse dry breadcrumbs (use gluten-free breadcrumbs if making a gluten-free version)
• 20 g (¾ oz) chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
• 20 g (¾ oz) chopped parsley
• 40 g (1½ oz/2 tbsp) tomato paste (concentrated purée)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1½ tsp fine salt
• 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten
• 800-850 g puff pastry (to make gluten-free sausage rolls, use gluten-free flaky pasty - see recipe here)
• Egg wash (see Note)
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds

Chilling time: 30 minutes

Instructions

1. Cook the quinoa and lentils (you can do this ahead of time). Put the lentils in a medium saucepan and cover generously with water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15–18 minutes until tender. Rinse the quinoa in cold water, then put it in a small saucepan with 160 g (51/2 oz) water. Bring to the boil, then cover with the lid and reduce the heat to low for 15 minutes until the water has been absorbed.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, sweet potato, celery and garlic. Cook with the lid on, stirring occasionally, for 8–10 minutes until softened.
3. Add the ground cumin and cinnamon for the last minute or so, to bring out the fragrance. Add all the vegetables to the quinoa and lentils. Add the parmesan, breadcrumbs, herbs, tomato paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir to combine well, then set aside to cool. Mix through the egg to bind everything together. Transfer the mixture into a large piping bag with a 3 cm (1¼ in) diameter hole. (A piping bag will make it easier to distribute the filling, but you can always spoon it onto the pastry if you don’t have one.) Refrigerate while you prepare the pastry.
4. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Put the pastry on a lightly floured kitchen bench and roll it out into a rectangle measuring 30 × 60 cm (12 × 23½ in) and 4 mm (⅛ in) thick. Lay the pastry so that one long side is parallel with the edge of the bench. Cut the pastry in half lengthways so you have two sheets, 15 × 60 cm (6 × 23½ in).
5. Pipe half the filling in a horizontal line one-third of the way up each pastry sheet. Brush the pastry above each line of filling with egg wash. Lift up the pastry along the edge closest to you and fold it up and over the filling. Seal the pastry along the egg-washed edge, so the seam sits underneath the filling. The pastry should hold the filling evenly and not be too tight.
6. Brush the tops and sides of both rolls with egg wash, lightly pierce along the top with a fork, then sprinkle with cumin seeds. Cut each roll into 15 cm (6 in) logs. Lay your sausage rolls on the lined tray and rest them in the fridge for 30 minutes. At this stage, you can freeze them until required.
7. To bake the sausage rolls, preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Bake from cold for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven to 180°C (360°F). Bake‑for a further 25–30 minutes, turning the tray halfway through, until the pastry is golden, puffed and flaky. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 for 10 minutes before eating.

Note

• Egg wash is a mixture brushed onto pastry before baking to give the final product a lovely golden shine and a little extra crispness and flakiness. I use: 1 whole egg, 1 egg yolk, 20 g (3/4 oz / t tbsp) full-cream (whole) milk and a pinch of salt. Whisk all the ingredients together. It will keep, refrigerated, in a sealed container for a few days. The salt helps denature the proteins in the eggs so it’s easier to brush the pastry Egg wash can also be used to fill holes or cracks in a pastry tart shell. Simply brush the surface of the shell in the last few minutes of blind baking to ensure any small holes are sealed. If the hole is too big, use a little piece of raw dough and use the egg wash like a cement to plug that hole, then blind bake for a further 5 minutes to heal.

This is an edited extract from All Day Baking by Michael and Pippa James (Hardie Grant Books, $45, available where all good books are sold). Photography: © Lisa Cohen

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

It’s a great recipe for getting them involved, too – picking the herbs, peeling the carrot and sweet potato, or brushing the egg wash over the pastry