Giant Lamb Sausage Roll with Harissa Spiked Romesco Sauce

Makes 1, serves around 10

As a child, I really loved a warm sausage roll from the local bakery: salty, greasy & flakey, you couldn't beat it! As an adult I, sadly, have to be more careful with what I eat, primarily for the gluten content but also for the fat! Making homemade sausage rolls solves these concerns for the most part, you can replace the pastry for gluten free but also you know where the meat is coming from and you choose what else goes in. I've brought this childhood snack into the adult realm by swapping the pork for lamb, one of my favourite meats and lower fat, adding spices, herbs and pine nuts and serving it with a gorgeous roasted pepper sauce! It would be lovely as part of a picnic or as an easy starter for a dinner party.

Ingredients:

Roll-

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 white onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin seeds

100g pine nuts

500g lamb mince

A few stems of fresh oregano

Pinch of chilli flakes

Pinch of nutmeg

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp dried mint

120g GF breadcrumbs

1 egg

Seasoning

2 x 280g GF ready rolled puff pastry

2 eggs beaten

2 tbsp nigella seeds

Romesco sauce-

2 tbsp rose harissa

6 red bell peppers

80g sun dried tomatoes

100g blanched almonds

Juice of 1 lemon

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

Glug of good olive oil

Salt

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Heat the oil in a medium frying pan and cook the onions for a few minutes until soft, add the garlic and cumin seeds for a couple of minutes more. Add the pine nuts and toast and then tip into a large bowl.

2. In a large baking dish, roast the peppers with a little oil for 30 minutes until nicely charred. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

3. Add all the remaining ingredients for the roll, except the pastry, beaten eggs and nigella seeds. Mix and massage the meat until everything is well combined.

4. Cut yourself a large piece of parchment paper and unroll the pastry sheets on top, laying one next to the other with a couple of inches overlapping, seal the seam with a little beaten egg brushed between the layer.

5. Form the meat mixture into a large sausage shape and place in the centre. Cut the pastry into slices on each side so that you can plait it: I do this by imagining the cut are arrows that would meet under meat, pointing towards me, but you only cut up to the sausage. See picture below.

6. Starting from the furthest end from you, tuck the top flap over the sausage and follow by alternate sides, brushing both sides with egg as you go. When you get to the end, leave one strip on each side, trim down the remaining flap to just cover the end and fold up, finishing with the last strips. Paint it all with a coating of egg and sprinkle with the nigella seeds. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

7. For the sauce, you should start by peeling and deseeding the cooled roasted peppers. To get the last of the seeds off, rinse the flesh under cool water. Add to a food processor along with all the other ingredients and blitz until you have a smooth paste, adding extra olive oil until you have a nice consistency.

8. Remove the roll from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve it with the sauce and salad of your choice.