Saucijzenbroodjes (sausage rolls) are a very popular snack in the Netherlands. They consist of spicy sausage meat encased in puff pastry and are usually served warm. I don’t like regular saucijzenbroodjes very much. I think it is something about the spice mix. Some years ago I decided to create my own sausage rolls to serve as a snack at my birthday party, using Italian tortellini stuffing as the basis for them. Homemade puff pastry with a stuffing of pork loin, prosciutto, mortadella, nutmeg, fennel seeds, fresh sage, and parmigiano, what’s not to like? I loved them indeed, and so did my friends. And so I made them again.

Since I was serving them as party snacks, I made very large rolls and served them in slices. The usual way is to make smaller ones and serve them whole.

Ingredients

For 16 regular saucijzenbroodjes or 8 double sized

1 kg (2.2 lbs) pork loin, in cubes

300 grams (.66 lb) prosciutto

300 grams (.66 lb) mortadella

4 eggs

100 grams (3.5 oz) freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

4 Tbsp minced fresh sage

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp fennel seeds

4 Tbsp butter

8 pieces of 30 by 15 cm (12 by 6 inches) or 700 grams (1.5 lbs) puff pastry

salt (if needed)

Preparation

Melt the butter in a frying pan and brown the pork loin in batches with the fennel seeds, sage, and garlic. Make sure the garlic doesn’t burn. The meat doesn’t need to be cooked through (it is better if you don’t), just browned.

Transfer the contents of the pan, including all the juices, to the bowl of a food processor.

Grind to obtain a course mixture. If you have a very large food processor or make only half of the recipe, you can grind everything at once. I had to do it in a couple of batches and mix everything together afterwards.

Beat 3 of the eggs using the food processor.

Add the prosciutto and mortadella and process.

Add freshly grated nutmeg to taste…

…and the freshly grated parmigiano.

Process until the mixture is homogeneous. Combine the ground pork loin with the prosciutto mixture and mix until homogeneous.

Take a small piece of the mixture and fry it in a bit of butter until it’s just cooked through. Taste it. If needed, add salt or more nutmeg or something else to your liking. Frying the stuffing is needed before tasting it, as it may contain undercooked pork as well as raw egg.

Put the stuffing in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or so to firm up.

Roll out the puff pastry if needed.

You will need 8 pieces of 30 by 15 cm (12 by 6 inches).

Divide the meat mixture into 8 equal portions. Roll out each portion into a cylinder of 30 cm (12 inches) long. Put each cylinder on  a piece of puff pastry…

…and fold over the puff pastry.

Preheat the oven to 240ºC/465ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the sausage rolls on top. Beat the remaining egg and brush the top of the sausage rolls with the egg.

Bake the sausage rolls at 240ºC/465ºF until they are golden brown on top and the meat is just cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Allow to cool briefly.

Serve whole or slice up.

Serve warm.