I know if my dad is reading this he probably got as far as the seeing the title before balking and quickly closing the page thinking ‘no meat in a sausage roll? What is wrong with my daughter?!?’ Now don’t get me wrong, I love a traditional sausage roll as much as the next person but sometimes I like to go vego.
Ok here’s the real truth – chickpeas are cheaper than beef mince (well the organic, low-fat beef mince I get anyway).
Yep sometimes – ok a lot of the time although some people wouldn’t believe me – I am cheap. I honestly believe being cheap and a little lazy are two strengths when it comes to creativity. I was hosting mother’s group Melbourne Cup lunch and didn’t have a lot of food in the house but refused to go shopping and so vegetarian sausage rolls with chickpeas emerged from the oven just minutes before the mums and bubs arrived.
I have to say, you really won’t miss the meat in these. In fact if you add a bit of tomato sauce, you could probably fool a few people if they did a blind tasting. I cooked mine like scrolls because it looks a bit fancy but feel free to make them in the traditional way.
These would be great to make up a batch of and pop in the freezer
What about you? Do you stock the freezer
- 2 x 400g (13oz) tins of chickpeas, drained and well rinsed
- 100g (3oz) feta, crumbled
- 2 tbsp semi-sundried tomatoes, well drained and chopped
- handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
- 1 tbsp pesto
- 1 roasted red pepper, deseeded, skinned and chopped
- 2 square sheets puff pastry
- ¼ cup or milk or 1 beaten free-range egg (to coat the pastry)
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- Pre-heat the oven to 200C (400F) fan-forced and line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Place the chickpeas in a food processor and blitz until smooshed up but still with a little bit of texture.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blitz of a few seconds to combine.
- You may want to add a little salt and pepper but be careful not to add too much salt if your feta is salty.
- Lay the pastry sheets out on a flat surface and spread half the chickpea mixture over each sheet leaving a border of 1-2cm (0.5-1") at the top and bottom but spread it all the way to the edges on the sides.
- Starting from the side closest to you, tightly roll the pastry up into a log.
- Use a sharp knife to slice the log into 10 pieces and place on the baking tray leaving 2cm (1") between each one.
- Brush them with the milk or egg and then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden.
- Serve warm
