Recipe: Cheesy Lentil Sausage Rolls {Vegetarian & Delicious}

Summary: Ahh, sausage rolls – a humble Aussie classic with a vego twist. Mummy Ask and I have been doing lots of vego batch cooking lately. We were planning our next project and Mr Ask requested sausage rolls, so the next day we whipped up a double batch of these babies. Golden, crispy puff pastry with a lentil, onion, carrot and cheese mix nestled inside. Mmhm, they are so good! Since we are lazy (and moisture content is always an issue in these mixes) we bought pre shredded carrots from the supermarket as they are easy and much dryer than hand grated. If you hand grate, you may need to add a titch more breadcrumbs to get a mouldable mix.

Ingredients

• 2 tblsp garlic olive oil
• 2 red onions, finely-ish chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried Italian herbs
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 200g grated carrot
• 210g pizza sauce/tomato paste w herbs
• 2 (400g) tins lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup baby frozen peas
• 1 egg, beaten + 1 extra for brushing
• 1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
• 350g grated cheddar cheese
• 4-6 sheets puff pastry, depending on how generous you stuff!
• 1½ tablespoons sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over low heat (I used the electric fry pan). Add the oil, onions, garlic and herbs. Cook, stirring, for 8-10 minutes.
2. Add the carrot and tomato paste and season well. Cook, stirring, for 8-10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Preheat the oven to 210C fan-forced. Stir the lentils, peas, egg, breadcrumbs and cheese through the lentil mixture.
4. Place some of the mixture along one edge of a pastry sheet. Shape into a log. Roll up pastry to enclose the filling. Repeat with remaining mixture and pastry.
5. Use a serrated knife to carefully cut each log in four pieces, using a sawing motion.
6. Place sausage rolls seam-side-down on baking trays lined with baking paper. Brush with the extra egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffed and golden. Serve with tomato sauce or tomato relish.
8. You can freeze the uncooked sausage rolls for up to 6 months. Just skip step 6, then wrap in aluminium foil and then place in a snap lock or air tight container before freezing. Bake from frozen. You will need to adjust the cooking time, start at 35 minutes and add an extra 5-10 minutes if needed.