Tackling Zena Skinner with a sausage plait

I don't really remember Zena Skinner, but she was quite a formidable TV chef in the 70s, and her cookbook arrived with a batch of retro recipe books from eBay. 

I bet you can't wait for a recipe from the mixer & blender book... As with many older cookbooks, pictures and photos are used sparingly, as in practically non-existent, which makes recreating some of the designs a bit more challenging! (see also Pringle shaped biscuits from the Scandi post...) This week, another not-for-anyone-attempting-to-diet dish, the sausage plait, worryingly not included in the "meat" chapter but in the "savoury" section, which does make me question the quality of Zena's sausages.

Ingredients

For 2 hungry people with leftovers

250g puff pastry (or half a pack of a pre-made block)

4 sausages - we had some venison sausages in the freezer but any good quality tasty banger will do

1 small red onion

1 egg, beaten, to glaze

Did you spot the trick ingredient? The recipe suggested cheese, which is why there's a block of wensleydale on the board above, but once I'd made the plait cheese seemed a bit excessive, so I made some gravy instead.

Method

- Roll the pastry out to form an oblong about 15cm by 20cm. Squeeze the meat from the sausages, season and form into a roll. Put down the centre of the pastry then sprinkle the chopped red onion on top and  squidge in a bit

- Here comes the technical it: cut slits in the sides of the pastry at an angle as shown below

- Fold the strips alternatively over the sausage filling so it looks a bit like a plait (?!). Tuck in the ends and glaze with beaten egg

 - Bake in the oven at 220C for 25-30 minutes until the meat is cooked through and the pastry is golden

It was delicious with mashed potato, cabbage and gravy, and I can think of several variations with different sausages and stuffings, flavouring the pastry with fennel or caraway, and even adding a bit of cheese...