Thermomix Mini Sausage Rolls

I whipped up these delicious morsels for the kids dinner last night.   Of course they can easily be made with out a thermomix, just chop finely and combine in  a bowl!

Ingredients:

• 500g pork mince (you can use beef, chicken, veal – whatever takes you fancy!)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 carrot
• sprig or two of flat leaf parsley
• 1 slice wholemeal bread (even better if it’s the crusty end piece!)
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vegetable stock powder (I use Massel)
• 2tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp worsteshire sauce
• pinch nutmeg
• 3 sheets of puff pastry, partially thawed
• 4 tbs milk
• sesame seeds (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C.

Put the carrot, garlic, parsley and bread into the Thermomix bowl and mix for 2 seconds / speed 7.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for a further 2 secs / speed 7.

Add the mince, egg, vegetable stock, tomato paste, worsteshire sauce and nutmeg and mix for 7 seconds / speed 5.

Cut each sheet of puff pastry in half lengthways.

Place some of the sausage mix along one of the long sides of the puff pastry and then roll up to form a sausage roll.  Press the sides down a little to secure the filling.

I normally score each roll into 4 at this point because my kids like the mini sausage rolls but you can score it into 2 or not at all if you like.  When I score, I only cut through the top layer of pastry.

Place each sausage roll onto a lined baking tray, leaving enough room between each for the pastry to puff out.  Brush with milk (or beaten egg) and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you want – I think they really make the sausage roll look homemade so I always include them.

You can see I bake mine on a rack over the oven tray – I find that this helps to make sure the base of the sausage roll comes up crispy.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve up to very hungry young (or old ones) with some tomato sauce.

This mixture makes about 22 mini sausage rolls for me.   The cooked sausage rolls also freeze well, so make up a double batch and you can always have some on hand!

And what to do with any left over puff pastry?  Why brush with milk and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar and bake for about 10 mins for some delicious little cinnamon biscuits that will be gone in a flash!

Hummus – Greg Malouf Style

I love Hummus but everytime I made it with the tinned chickpeas in the food processor it came out all gritty and earthy.  Nothing like the deliciously smooth and nutty hummus that I bought at the local lebanese restaurant.

And then one day I came across Greg Malouf’s book Moorish which unlocked the secret of fabulous hummus and dear reader I’m going to pass this secret onto you – I promise it will make your homemade hummus taste like the most divine hummus ever. 

It’s so simple I can’t believe it never occurred to me – the chickpeas need to be cooked!  Simmering on the stove for approximately two hours according to Malouf, until you get a porridge like consistency.  And then you blend.

I was a bit ambitious and thought it should be easy enough to convert into thermomix language.  So hear we go:

I use dried chickpeas that soak overnight (umm maybe just most of the day).  I normally cook more but this is all I had left.

The handy weighing scales of the Thermomix tells me this was 110g of chickpeas.  Put into the mixing bowl, add plenty of water and cook at 100C /1 hour / Reverse + Stir speed.

And this is what I call porridge consistency.

Now to add some garlic, lemon juice, tahini and salt (I use himalyan pink salt for everything).  Also used about 2 tsp of olive oil and some water to get the right consistency.

I did a couple of turbo pulses.  Because this wasn’t a great amount of hummus, it ended up all over the sides and the lid, so I had to scrape down with the spatula a couple of times and pulse again.

And Voila – perfect lebanese restaurant hummus!