Beef and Bean Sausage Rolls

It started out as just an average day. I got the boys off to school then ran 8 kilometres then came home to find that  The Curious Country Cook has kindly nominated me for a Versatile Blog Award! My average day,  tuned into a FAB day. Thank you Curious Country Cook, you made my day.

I have learned that when nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award, one must do the following steps:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and provide a link to their page on your blog.
• Nominate 15 blogs for the award and let them know by leaving them a comment.
• Copy/Paste the award on your blog post.
• Share 7 things about yourself.

So here goes:

The Blogs

1. The Cooking Bride: Her photographs are to-die-for and her food is the kind of food I want to eat... like now... like right now.
2. Fabulous You: Check out these cupcakes and tell me she's not worthy of an award... or may be a dozen.
3. Confessions of a Bright-Eyed Baker: In her own words she's "a girl who loves to bake" - so we're like spirit sisters... sort of. 
4. Greens & Seeds: Super healthy, beautifully photographed food. All the food is vegetarian and focusses on natural, nourishing, delicious whole foods. This is the blog I turn to when I've eaten too much cake.
5. Apt. 2B Baking Co.: An utterly butterly blog. 
6. Food Swoon: I started to bookmark the recipes in her recipe index, then realised I'd marked them all.
7. Hungry Brownie: A feast for the tummy and the eyes.
8. The Galley Gourmet: A blog for those who want to cook and eat great food at home with family and friends. Couldn't you just eat one of these Shrimp and Spanish Chorizo Bites right now?
9. Two Tarts: Two friends cooking things from scratch. You can learn how to make things like  homemade Greek yoghurt and corn tortillas from go-to-whoa. Plus they have an extensive cocktail index... yes, that's right. But don't rush off to find your cocktail shaker just yet, I still have six more blogs to tell you about.
10. Wing-It Vegan: Yummy, creative vegan food. Funny and delicious- one of my favourite combinations.
11. Sprinkled with Flour: Beautiful images of great food, obviously cooked with more than a sprinkle of love. 
12. @ Down Under: A French expatriate living in New Zealand. A blogger from the same hemisphere as me. So when "seasonal" is mentioned, I think "Oh, that's me too." (I read lots of blogs from the other side, so it's nice to be in the same season, picking the same fruit and vegetables as some one else.) @ Down Under is a gorgeous blog which features not only beautiful food shots, but also life in stunning New Zealand.
13. My Kitchen Affair: Yum, Oh yum. Take a look at this Ice Cream, need I say more?
14. SoupAddict: A blogger who is dedicated to "whole, fresh foods, prepared with minimal fuss". Yes, yes and yes.
15. The Comfort of Cooking: I just want to cook and eat everything I see on this blog. 

Seven Things About Me

1. I'm an excellent bowl and spoon licker.
2. My cook book collection is way bigger and more interesting than my nail polish collection.
3. I have 5 laying hens and one of them is called Jennifer.
4. I love fennel tea.
5. I have eleven books (one of which I am reading and the other 10 are "pending"), a lip gloss, a reading lamp, a collection of rings (more interesting than my nail polish collection, but not as interesting as my cook book collection) and a butterfly-shaped money box on my night-stand.
6. My favourite colour is grey - not technically a colour, but it's still my favourite.
7. I live to eat, I don't eat to live and I run so I can eat what I like and so that I live long enough to eat everything I want - so there.

In other news, here are some hearty and fully-delicious sausage rolls I made. Think chilli con carne wrapped in a doona of buttery puff pastry - yeah, you heard right!

Beef and Bean Sausage Rolls
from Paul Allam and David McGuinness'  Bourke Street Bakery
Makes 18

For the Sausage Rolls:

1 x 400g red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
20ml extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 small red chillies, seeded and  finely chopped
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
500g ground beef
30g dry breadcrumbs
12g salt
7g white pepper
3 sheets store-bought ready-rolled puff pastry (or if you're bonkers like me, you make your own)

For the Egg Wash:

1 egg
1/2 cup milk
chilli flakes, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, chillies and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the kidney beans stir together for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Put the bean mixture in a large mixing bowl and add the beef, breadcrumbs, salt and white pepper. Using your hands, mix the meat quite forcefully for 3 minutes to thoroughly combine.

Make an egg wash by whisking together the egg, milk and a pinch of salt. 

Take a pastry sheet and cut it in half so that you have two long rectangles.

Divide the beef mixture into six even-sized portions. On a clean work surface, roll each portion out into a sausage shape to fit the length of the pastry. Place each log in the centre of a pastry sheet and brush one long edge with egg wash. Firmly fold the pastry over, pressing to enclose the log tightly, leaving the ends open. Cut each roll into three even-sized pieces and place on baking trays lined with baking paper. Brush the top of each roll with egg wash and sprinkle with chilli flakes. Reduce the oven temperature to 190 degrees C and bake for 35-40mins, or until they are golden brown and delicious.