This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
Butternut Squash ‘sausage rolls’
Ingredients:
For the filling:
500g fresh butternut squash, peeled, deseeded & diced
10ml cold-pressed olive oil
5g fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 400g tin of butter beans, rinsed and drained
100g baby leaf spinach, finely chopped
10g fresh basil, finely chopped
10 ml soy sauce
pinch of sea salt flakes
pinch of ground pepper
For the pastry:
320g roll of puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
How to prepare:
Pre-heat the oven to 200℃ (180℃ fan) or gas mark 6.
Put the diced butternut squash onto a baking tray and coat with half of the olive oil and all of the fresh thyme and roast for 20 minutes.
While the squash is roasting, warm a thick-based saucepan over a medium heat and add the remaining olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the red onion and garlic and gently fry until the onion is golden and soft.
Put the cooked onion and garlic into a food processor along with the roasted butternut squash. Next, add in the butter beans, spinach, coriander, basil, soy sauce, slat and pepper, pulsing the mixture until they combine. Don’t blitz for too long – you’re looking for a chunky texture, not a paste.
Set the mixture aside and allow it to cool.
In the meantime, cut the pastry into two pieces. By getting the pastry in a roll, it’ll already be on parchment paper. Keep it on the paper and measure out 10cm wide and 40cm long for the bottom piece. For the top, it should be 14cm wide by 40 cm long. Use a knife to cut out your sections.
Once you’ve cut your pastry, spoon the cooled butternut squash mixture along the centre of the bottom section of the pastry.
Brush the parts of the pastry without any mixture with a little of the beaten egg and then pop the top section of pastry on top. Using your fingers, firmly press the edges of the pastry together to make sure the butternut squash mixture is tucked in tightly. Trim the edges with a sharp knife.
Gently brush the whole ‘sausage roll’ with the remaining beaten egg mix and score the top of it with a sharp knife – just three-four slits will do – so that the steam can escape when it’s cooking.
Place the roll onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 25 minutes. After the time’s up, turn it over, remove the parchment paper and cook for a further ten minutes upside down. This will allow the bottom of the pastry to become crisp and ensure it’s fully cooked.
Now you can remove it from the oven and let it sit and cool before cutting it into eight equal parts.
To make in advance, simply follow until you have made the slits then either freeze or refrigerate. It’ll last 3 days in the fridge or 1 month in the freezer.