Pumpkin, chickpea & sage ‘sausage’ rolls
These “sausage” rolls are easy to assemble and great for a party, and the recipe is very versatile. You could substitute carrot or sweet potato for the pumpkin, cooked cannellini beans for the chickpeas and use your favourite greens and herbs. The olive oil pastry is easy to make and very different in texture and handling from shortcrust pastry, but if time is short you could purchase all-butter puff pastry.
This is another good recipe for young hands to exercise and hone their fine motor skills – chopping, mixing, rolling, assembling and sprinkling – as well as introducing a delicious plant-based alternative to meat-based sausage rolls. Need more than a dozen? Encourage children to use their maths skills by doubling or even tripling the quantities needed.
Makes 12 rolls
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
185ml cold water (¾ cup)
300g plain flour (2 cups), plus extra for flouring
Large pinch of salt
Sesame seeds, for topping
Tonkatsu sauce or tomato chutney, to serve (optional)
For the filling
250g peeled pumpkin, chopped into 2cm chunks
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
½ onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
6 large sage leaves, sliced
3 leaves silverbeet (or Tuscan kale or cabbage), stripped from stems and shredded
1 x 400g tin chickpeas
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the glaze
1 free-range egg
Pinch of salt
Extra equipment
Food processor
Colander
Pastry brush
Rolling pin
To make the pastry, mix the oil into the water in a measuring cup.
Find a clean, flat surface for the dough (such as a benchtop or table) and sprinkle generously with flour.
In a food processor, combine the flour and salt. With the motor running, pour in the water and olive oil mixture. Process for less than a minute or so until the pastry forms a ball. Scrape the rather sticky dough onto your well-floured work surface and give it a quick knead to bring it together into a silky smooth ball. Put it in a bowl, cover with a cloth and leave for 30 minutes while you prepare the filling.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.
To make the filling, put the pumpkin in a bowl, drizzle with half the oil and stir to combine. Spread in a single layer on a small baking tray and bake for 30 minutes until a skewer easily slips through each piece. Remove the pumpkin from the oven (leave the oven on for the pastry) and straight away crush the pumpkin on the tray using a potato masher (it does not have to be completely smooth). Allow to cool, then spoon into a large bowl.
While the pumpkin is baking, heat the rest of the oil in a small frying pan over medium heat and saute the onion, garlic and sage for three to four minutes until the onion starts to soften. Stir to prevent it sticking. Add the silverbeet (or other greens), mix well, cover, lower the heat and cook for a few more minutes until the greens have wilted. Cool, then add to the mashed pumpkin.
Drain the chickpeas in a colander, tip them onto a plate and roughly crush them with the potato masher. Add the chickpeas to the bowl with the pumpkin and silverbeet mixture, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
For the glaze, whisk the egg and salt in a small bowl and have a pastry brush ready. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
To make the rolls, dust a work surface with flour again. Divide the pastry in half. Work with one piece at a time. On the well-floured work surface, using a rolling pin, roll the first piece out to a rectangle about 24cm long and 12cm wide. You will be able to pat and pull it into shape with your hands.
Spoon half the filling down the centre of the pastry rectangle, leaving a 2cm border around the edges. Brush the exposed pastry with the egg glaze, then lift one edge of the pastry up and over the filling. Bring the other edge up and over to meet and overlap it to enclose the filling. The roll will seal readily. Gently turn the roll over and move onto the prepared baking tray. Repeat with the second pastry rectangle and the rest of the filling. Brush the entire surface of each log with the glaze. Cut each log into six pieces using a serrated knife. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, then bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack, then serve with tonkatsu sauce or tomato chutney (if desired).
Fennel and pea capunti with mozzarella
Capunti might be pasta shaped to look like empty pea pods, but this recipe puts the peas back into the pods! You can use any mix of available seasonal greens in the sauce, as well as other vegetables such as asparagus, artichoke or broccolini.I have used frozen baby peas to make this dish, but shelled broad beans would also be a good substitute. If you have no mozzarella or bocconcini you could use very fresh ricotta instead.
Serves 6 to 8
1 heaped tsp salt
500g dried capunti pasta (or any short pasta variety)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
1 fennel bulb, quartered, then each quarter cut crossways into fine slices
155g podded peas (1 cup)
1 bunch seasonal greens (such as silverbeet, rainbow chard, cabbage, kale or warrigal greens), including stalks, roughly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
200g fresh mozzarella, torn into bite-sized pieces
Extra-virgin olive oil or lemon-infused olive oil, to drizzle
Extra equipment
Colander
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil over high heat and add the salt. Cook the pasta according to packet directions. While the pasta is cooking, set the colander in the empty sink ready for a fast drain.
When the pasta is cooked, drain it in the colander, and give the colander a big shake to remove excess water. It can sit happily in its hot empty pot until the sauce is ready.
To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and fry for about two minutes, until well softened. Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook for about a minute until fragrant. Add the fennel to the pan, reduce the heat to low, then cover and cook until soft, about eight minutes.
Toss the peas and greens into the pan with the fennel and onion mixture, cover, and cook for about five minutes more, still on low heat.
Test a piece of fennel to be sure it is tender, then season with salt and pepper, and add the parsley.
Fold the sauce through the cooked pasta. Scatter over the torn pieces of mozzarella before serving in heated serving dishes. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil or lemon-infused olive oil.
Quandong and berry sponge pudding
This is an exciting variation on a family favourite. Quandongs are an Indigenous fruit also known as native peach and are a close relative of sandalwood. The nutritious white or cream pulpy flesh of the fruit has a distinctive, rather tart flavour and is used in jams, pies and chutneys, usually combined with other fruits.
Fresh quandongs are hard to come by, but you can find dried quandongs at select specialty food retailers.
Serves 6
2 cups fresh or frozen quandongs, or 40g dried quandongs (½ cup), soaked in cold water for 1 hour
115g caster sugar (½ cup)
185ml water (¾ cup)
200g blueberries (1 cup)
125g raspberries or blackberries (¾ cup)
20g butter
Cream, to serve
For the sponge topping
60g butter, at room temperature
80g caster sugar (⅓ cup)
2 free-range eggs
150g self-raising flour (1 cup)
60 ml milk (¼ cup)
Extra equipment
1 litre pie dish that is wide rather than deep
Food processor, or stand mixer with paddle attachment
If using dried quandongs, drain them well. Chop the quandongs roughly.
Dissolve the sugar in the water in a pan over medium heat, then drop in the chopped quandongs. Bring to simmering point and cook for about 10 minutes, covered, until the quandongs have softened. Add the berries and stir them in. Bring to a simmer and cook for five minutes, then set aside to cool a little. (You should end up with two cups of poached fruit.)
Generously butter a 1 litre-wide pie dish, then tip the fruit in. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan.
To make the sponge topping, combine the butter, sugar, eggs and flour in a food processor, or a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Add the milk gradually and process until smooth. Take spoonfuls of the topping and place it on top of the fruit in the pie dish. Bake for 30 minutes until well risen, firm and golden brown. Serve with cream.
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This is an edited extract from Fresh by Stephanie Alexander, photography by Alan Benson, available now through Macmillan Australia (RRP $44.99).
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