Sausage and egg picnic slice

Combine your favourite sausages with sliced egg, encase it all in a light and crispy homemade pastry shell and pack this sausage and egg picnic slice into your picnic hamper for a perfect summer snack.

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Sausage and egg picnic slice

Now that summer is finally on its way, thoughts of picnics and barbeques are starting to rear their head, and we are starting to look for recipes that we can make to eat outdoors.

This sausage and egg picnic roll is such a recipe. It makes a delicious snack to pack in a picnic basket, or you could serve it as a starter to munch on while you are waiting for your meat to grill on the barbeque.

I use good quality, low fat sausages for this picnic slice and mix them with grated onion, grated cheese and tomato paste for added flavour. I then add a layer of sliced hard-boiled eggs, before encasing the whole lot in a light and flaky pastry.

You could, of course, use a roll of shop-bought pastry. But if, like me, you prefer to make your own pastry, I’ve included instructions below for a deliciously light and flaky pastry, which makes the perfect casing for this sausage and egg picnic slice.

How to make the flaky pastry

You can get the complete recipe for both the pastry and the sausage and egg picnic slice from the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

Making your own pastry is so rewarding, especially when you have a recipe as easy as this one, which is guaranteed not to fail.

Tips for perfect pastry

• Make sure your ingredients are as cold as possible. Keep the eggs and butter in the fridge and use ice cold water for mixing.
• Handle the pastry as little as possible.
• Leave the pastry to relax in the fridge for at least half an hour once it has been mixed.

There are only 5 easy steps to follow and you can have this mixed in no time.

Sift 280g (2 cups) of all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add 125g (4.5ounces) of cubed butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)1 (image 1). Don’t add any baking powder. We don’t want the pastry to puff up during cooking. For this reason you should not use self-raising flour.

Rub the butter into the flour with your finger tips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (image2). Lift the butter and flour above the bowl and let it drop back as you rub. This will ensure you incorporate plenty of air into the mixture, which will result in a lighter pastry.

Now separate 2 large eggs and add the yolks to the flour. You can use the whites to make meringues, or to make these coconut meringue topped jam tarts. Add 4 tablespoons ice cold water (image 3).

Use a flat-bladed knife to cut the eggs and water through the flour until the pastry starts to come together in lumps (image 4).

If the pastry does not come together, add another tablespoon of water.

Now use your hands to gently press the pastry together into a flat disk. Do not knead. Handle the pastry as little as possible – over-worked pastry will be tough.

Place the disk of pastry into a plastic bag, or wrap with clingfilm and place in the fridge to relax for half an hour.

How to make a sausage and egg picnic slice

The quantities given should make 2 x 12″ long picnic slices.

Use your favourite brand of sausage. I like to use Cumberland or Lincolnshire sausages, but any good quality pork sausage with a low fat content will work well. You could use beef sausages if you prefer. Try not to use a sausage with a high fat content or you will find that the fat will leak out all over your baking tray and soak into the pastry.

Slit the skin of the sausages with a sharp knife. Remove and discard. Put the sausage meat into a mixing bowl. Grate 1 large onion and add to the meat. Add 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese and a good squirt of tomato paste from a tube (about 2 tablespoons). You won’t need any salt or pepper, the sausages should have sufficient seasoning. Get your hands in, and mix until all the ingredients are well combined (image 1).

Take half of the pastry and roll it out into a long rectangle. Trim the edges to neaten them up (image2).

Now arrange the sausage meat mixture along the centre of the pastry (image 3).

Slice 2 hard-boiled eggs and arrange them on top of the sausage meat. Season with a little salt and black pepper if preferred (image 4).

Baking the picnic slice

Break an egg into a bowl and mix lightly with a fork. This will be used to seal the pastry, and also to egg wash the picnic slice before baking.

To seal the pastry, brush a little beaten egg along one edge, Bring the un-egg-washed edge up over the filling, then bring the egg-washed edge up to cover it, and press gently to seal. Place seam-side down on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Score the pastry lightly on the diagonal with a sharp knife and brush the top of the pastry lightly with the beaten egg (image 1). Take care not to cut all the way through the pastry.

Place the baking sheet into a pre-heated oven (200C / 400F) and bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown (image2). You may be able to see in this image that very little fat has leaked out of the sausages during the baking process.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool, then slice and enjoy (image 3).

Can I freeze this sausage and egg slice?

You can freeze this sausage and egg slice once it has been assembled. Just wrap each roll in baking parchment and then wrap in clingfilm and store in the freezer for up to six months.

To bake, allow to defrost in the refrigerator, then bake as per the recipe instructions.

You could also assemble the sausage and egg slice, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in the refrigerator for a day before baking.

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Additional resources

Don’t forget to check out my handy Cookery Conversion Calculator if you want to convert any of your recipe measurements from grams to cups, ounces, tablespoons or millilitres and vice versa. You can also use the calculator for converting oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius and Gas marks.

If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read all about it in this post on baking at high altitudes.

Recipe – Sausage and egg picnic slice

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