Vegetarian Sweet Potato and Cheddar Sausage Rolls

These Vegetarian Sweet Potato and Cheddar Sausage Rolls are made with a simple rough puff pastry, then filled with roasted sweet potato, red onion and grated cheddar. These make a great picnic/summery lunch treat, and can easily be made vegan by subbing the butter in the pastry for a vegan block and either substituting or omitting the cheese.

The filling is soft, tasty and full of flavour from the cheese and red onion. The sweet potato and onion get roasted with some garlic before being pureed in order to remove any raw taste and add some complexity. Best eaten warm, but still delicious once cooled. I make these using this rough puff recipe, but do feel free to buy a block of puff pastry instead if easier!

For more savoury recipes, check out my Cheese and Sun-dried Tomato Swirls or these Bombay Potato Puffs. For videos of me breaking apart bakes or for inspiration, head on over to my Instagram.

Vegetarian Sweet Potato and Cheddar Sausage Rolls

Makes: About 12
Prep Time: 25 Minutes
Bake Time: 20 Minutes (veggies) + 20 Minutes (pastry rolls)
Total Time: 1 Hr 30 Mins (including pastry chilling time)

Ingredients

For the pastry:

• 125g Plain Flour
• 125g Butter, Cubed, Cold

For the filling:

• 400g Sweet Potato, Chopped (1 inch chunks)
• 3 Medium Red Onions, Quartered
• Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper
• 150g Cheddar, Grated
• Optional: 1 Beaten Egg to wash the pastry, sesame seeds, black onion seeds to top.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Line a medium sized roasting tin.
2. If making the pastry yourself (I do recommend this, but shop bought puff works just fine too!), follow my easy recipe here. Whilst this is chilling, get your veggies going:
3. Place the chopped sweet potato and red onion on the tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, until the potato is soft. Remove and let cool a little. Keep the oven on at the same temperature.
4. At this stage, if making your own, get the pastry out of the fridge, roll in one direction to create a narrow rectangle. Fold the top down to the middle, then the bottom over this (to create a ‘book end’). Rotate the block 90 degrees and repeat. Chill again for 20 minutes.
5. Place the sweet potato and onion into a food processor/high powered blender (or simply chop repeatedly) and pulse until a paste forms. Add the grated cheddar, a little more salt and pepper, and combine.
6. Line two large baking trays with baking paper/silicone mats.
7. Get the pastry out of the fridge, by now the filling should have cooled. Roll out the pastry to a 40x30cm rectangle. Leaving an inch on the long side of the pastry, spread the filling into a straight cylinder/log shape.
8. Take the edge of the pastry and roll it over the filling, keeping it as tight as possible. Keep rolling the pastry until you reach the end and have a log of pastry with the filling all inside.
9. Cut the log into approx 12 rolls (make them larger or smaller to suit yourself). Place these onto two large baking sheets, spread apart a little.
10. Use a fork to prick a few holes in the top of each. If using, brush the tops with beaten egg for a more golden bake. Sprinkle over sesame seeds/black onion seeds. Bake for 20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
11. Remove and let cool on a wire rack a little before serving!