Tuesday 7 October 2014

Carrot, Cheese and Rice Sausage Rolls

These carrot, cheese and rice sausage rolls were made on a whim.  I never thought I would share them.  They was so delicious and so successful that I had to blog the recipe.  For me, a successful recipe is one where Sylvia loves them.  This one is not fancy or innovative.  It is just good simple food.

This is the sort of recipe that makes me think of old-school vegetarians making in the 1970s before we had amazing sausage roll recipes like Liz O'Brien's Sausage Rolls. I really love Liz O'Brien's recipe.  Sylvia doesn't.  This was my attempt to convince a 5 year old to eat sausage rolls.  I filled the pastry with ingredients she loved.

We discussed the ingredients beforehand so she would be on my side.  She was happy with carrot, cheese and rice.  Then I decided it needed tomato paste and wasn't sure whether I should tell her.  I regret to say I didn't.  Sylvia wasn't fooled but she didn't hold it against me.  "I really like the tomato," she told me.

I filled the sausage rolls very generously and had a half sheet of puff pastry leftover.  A slick of vegemite and some thin slices of cheese made cheeseymite rolls.  They were a great success with Sylvia just like the first time I made them.  She seemed to love these cold unlike the sausage rolls.

I would like to claim that every child would love these.  I am sure many would.  However I have a child who loves plain food and rejects so many recipe that are claimed to be child-friendly.  I was quite wary of making these for her.  No doubt the pastry helped, but it is not enough.  The filling has to work too.  Recently I had tried cheese and cauliflower in pastry which resulted in wailing and gnashing of teeth.  I was relieved when she loved the sausage rolls with carrot, cheese and rice. 

While pastry is not the healthiest of snack foods, these are filled with good stuff.  (I would even be interested to try these with a vegan cheese like bio cheese.)  It is easy to make, and would be great for entertainment.  Sylvia didn't want them in her lunchbox because she preferred them warm.  I loved them at room temperature and am sure they would make great lunchbox and picnic food.  They do give me hope that Sylvia will become more adventurous in eating filled pastry.  [Though as I have said before, no one can complain about a child who demands I buy her brussels sprouts!]

I am sending these to Karen for Tea Time Treats at Lavender and Lovage (who alternates hosting with The Hedgecombers).  This month's theme is Cooking and Baking with Vegetables.

More vegetable-based tea time treats from Green Gourmet Giraffe:

Savoury:
Cauliflower, pea and parmesan polenta fingers
Potato parsley stars
Tomatoes stuffed with guacamole
Vegan Party Pies

Sweet:
Chocolate avocado cupcakes
Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudgies (with eggplant)
Pumpkin scones
Zucchini brownie with smoked walnuts

Carrot, Cheese and Rice Sausage Rolls
Makes 12-18

1 cup dry brown rice 
1 and 1/2 carrots, finely grated
150 to 200g cheese, grated*
2 tbsp tomato paste
Seasonings: pinch each of salt and smoked paprika, or to taste
2-3 sheets of puff pastry**
milk for glazing

Simmer brown rice for 30 minutes or until cooked.  Drain.  (I then removed a cup of rice for another recipe but am not sure if this was necessary.)  Mix rice with carrots, cheese and tomato paste.  Add seasonings to taste.

Preheat oven to 220 C and line a couple of oven trays.

Lay out a sheet of (defrosted) pastry and cut in half lengthwise.  Spoon filling along the middle of the length of each piece of pastry.  Brush long edge with a little milk and roll pastry around filling so there is a slight overlap.  Cut into 6 pieces.  Place on a lined oven tray.  Glaze with milk.  Repeat with remaining pastry until you have used up all the filling.

Bake for 10 minutes at 220 C and 10 minutes at 200 C or until golden brown.  (I also baked some at 200 C for 25 minutes.  If you want to reheat later you can baked until a light brown and then reheat for 10 to 15 minutes when ready to eat.)

* I think you could substitute a vegan cheese such as bio cheese here and use vegan puff pastry to make these vegan.  The puff pastry I used was vegan but I haven't tried a vegan cheese here.

** I used 2 and 1/2 sheets of puff pastry but the sausage rolls were a bit overflowing so I would recommend 3 sheets of pastry.

On the Stereo:
Nursery Days: Woody Guthrie

22 comments:

  1. These look great! I'd be interested to try them with vegan cheese...it's good that your Sylvia liked these! My Sylvia is dismissing most things I make at the moment,sigh!

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    1. Thanks Kate - it is so hit and miss with kids and I find Sylvia likes one thing one day and the next wont touch it with a barge pole. Thanks goodness for plain old veg - at least I don't have to put in too much effort and she usually eats some of those but I am trying to find more meals we can share (success with a tofu besan omelette tonight)

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  2. Mmmmmm..... Yum! I love these. They look so tasty!

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  3. I really want to make these. They sound and look great!

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  4. they look good to me! I have some frozen Cheezly I should be using up soon and we seem to have an oversupply of puff pastry (which annoys me because once I use a few sheets I never know what to do with the rest, not sure if it can be refrozen)!

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    1. Thanks Veganopoulous - I usually just take a few sheets out of the packet of puff pastry as they are easy to prise apart with a knife - and then I put the rest back in the freezer. It usually takes us a while to get through a packet and I use it up when I am sick of it getting in my way in the freezer. Let me know if you try it with cheezly.

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  5. I love the look of these - they are fantastic!!

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  6. They look really good! I was just saying the other day how I need to get some puff pastry...we used to make things with it all the time (the Bear is obsessed with the stuff) but I don't think we've had it in over a year now! Time to make sausage rolls!

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    1. Thanks Caeli - writing about the sausage rolls makes me want to buy more puff pastry - I do get annoyed with having it in my freezer because it always gets in the way - but I can see why Bear is obsessed with it

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  7. I think this would be a great oportunity to buy some vegan cheese. Because I have to try to feed these to my kid. They look awesome and I am sure she would be into them.

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    1. Thanks Mihl - I am sure there are many variations on this - even a nice vegan cheese sauce with some carrot and rice would make me happy - but sylvia loves cheese so I thought it might work for her. Hope your kid loves them.

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  8. oh yum, i adore veggie sausage rolls and am rather obsessed with cheese so these would be a win!

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    1. Thanks Cate - I try not to be obsessed with cheese but I could eat a lot of it

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  9. I do like to make my own sausage rolls because you never quite know what's in the ones you buy at the shops. These sausage rolls are a very pretty colour and I think the combination of ingredients is lovely xx

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    1. Thanks Charlie - I always think bought sausage rolls are full of sawdust and the sweepings off the butchers floor but I think this is a prejudice from my childhood. (Do you wonder that I am vegetarian when we talked about meat in this way!) The colours are lovely, aren't they!

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  10. I like hearing about your successes and challenges with Sylvia, and think I'd share both of your sentiments on these - they sound great. Like Charlie says, they look beautiful too!

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    1. Thanks Kari - it amuses (and sometimes fascinates) me to look back on old posts and see what sylvia used to eat - usually I think isn't it strange she ate it once and no longer - so I find it interesting to document it - at least she is getting more used to the idea that she has to try food and I have the occasional win!

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  11. Haha I like how you discuss the ingredients with Sylvia beforehand to make sure you have a thumbs up. If I did that with the.boy, I think he would veto everything!

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    1. Thanks Joanne - it is partly that I don't want her to feel cheated as I have heard from a few people about their childhood but I also I hope it helps her feel in control and ok about trying it - though there are no guarantees.

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  12. I love the sound of these - a great alternative to a meat sausage roll. I'm pretty sure I would like these at room temperature too, so I would be very happy to have them in my lunch box.

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  13. Anything that calls for sausage rolls, I would eat them right away! I’m happy to know that Sylvia loved them, I understand the challenge with kids when it comes to food, it takes time to process and taste all kinds of dishes. I grew up eating plain and healthy Asian dishes, noodle soups and rice and I wasn’t into candies and all back then. It took awhile for me to get used to the sweet and cheezy stuff!

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  14. They look delicious. I tried bio-cheese for the first time the other day. It's been sitting in the fridge and my daughter has used it but I couldn't resist any longer! It melts sooo well, I reckon it would work great in these.

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