Not-So-Secret Admirer Morning Tea

Oh the last day of the school term. The excitement, the exhaustion, the anticipation, the unfinished to-do list, the last minute jobs.

I have heard it said that there is no dilemma in life that can't be softened by a good custard square. Although flippant, this speaks to the feelings of togetherness and emotional and physical restoration that the sharing of food brings to people and their communities.

One of the lovely rituals of the last week of term 1 is a round of Secret Admirer: names are drawn, and admirers smuggle gifts and tokens of appreciation to their recipients. Having missed the deadline for putting our names forward, three of us decided to be everyones' not-so-secret admirer by providing a delicious homemade morning tea to our lovely colleagues. 

We all made a few favourite recipes that altogether made for an impressive spread. Sarah made Lemon Cupcakes, Salted Caramel slice and Chocolate Brownie. Rebecca made Citrus slice, Angels on Horseback, Sesame Lavosh with blue cheese, and Hummus with french bread. I made Sausage Rolls, Sticky Lemon Slice, Date Scones, gluten-free Rice Bubble Cake, and Carrot Cake. Follow the high lighted links to go directly to the previously blogged recipes.

Some of you have requested the Sausage Roll recipe. This one is always popular with our friends and family. It has a couple of extra ingredients that make them extra special.

Prudence's Sausage Rolls

1 finely sliced onion
4 thick slices of white bread - made into fresh bread crumbs using the kitchen whizz
3 Tablespoons tomato sauce
3 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
2 eggs
2 x 450g tubes of sausage meat

6 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
12 rashers rind less streaky bacon
250g tomato relish - I used Barkers Sun dried tomato and olive

1 beaten egg for glazing

Mix the onion, bread crumbs, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce, seasoning, eggs and sausage meat until thoroughly blended together.
Put the sausage meat mixture into the fridge while you prepare the pastry.

Cut each pastry square in half and separate the bacon rashers. Leave the plastic sheet attached to the pastry as it will help you to shape the sausage rolls.
Lay the pastry sheets out over the bench; Spoon an even amount of sausage meat along each pastry sheet. It should be about 2cm in diameter.

Top each sausage meat row with a strip of bacon and spoon some relish along side the meat. Roll the pastry over the meat and leave with the seam facing down. Again, leave the plastic sheet on the pastry until your ready to bake the sausage rolls. They can be stored in the fridge for 24 hours or freezer for later use.

When your ready, cut each roll into evenly sized portions.  Glaze with the lightly beaten egg and bake at 200deg. C for about 25 minutes. They should be golden brown and crispy once cooked.

 The not-so-secret-admirers - thanks ladies for making this a morning tea to remember when we all needed an end of term pick me up.