Festive Finger Food

Thu, 9 December 2021

Gareth Mullins is in the Six Kitchen tonight doing a full spread of simple yet tasty finger food for the table this festive season!

On the menu:

Pork, apricots, chestnuts and sage sausage rolls
Cranberry relish
Crozier Blue Cheese, Walnut and Honey
Parmesan, Cheese straws

All the details you need to WOW your family this Christmas are below: 

PORK, APRICOT, CHESTNUT AND SAGE SAUSAGE ROLLS

Ingredients:
- 1 Onion finely chopped
- 100g dried apricots – chopped
- 100g chopped chestnuts
- 6 leaves of sage chopped
- 300g Sausage meat
- Handful of breadcrumbs
- 250g readymade puff pastry
- 1 Egg
- A little milk
- 2 tbsp of sesame seeds

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 - place a small frying pan on the stove and sauté onion in a little olive oil until soft, add chopped sage, chestnuts and chopped apricots and cook for a further 2mins.
2. Put into a mixing bowl and allow to cool, when cooled add the sausage meat, breadcrumbs and mix well.
3. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry until the thickness of a euro coin.
4. Put the sausage mix in a piping bag, pipe the length of the pastry, brush with a little egg wash, and fold the pastry over.
5. Press down with fingers or fork to seal. Repeat the process until all sausage meat has been used. Brush sausage rolls on the outside with a little egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds and place in the fridge for 15 mins to cool.
6. When chilled, cut to desired six and put on a baking tray, bake for 12-15 minutes at 180 until golden brown.

Gareth loves to serve these with some cranberry sauce, perfect finger food for snacking and they freeze perfectly.

CRANBERRY RELISH

Ingredients:
- 250g of cranberry, fresh work best but you can also use frozen
- 1 Navel orange, juice and zest
- 1 star anise
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 100g brown sugar
- 50ml port

Method:
1. Place all ingredients in a clean saucepan and bring to the boil, cook on a simmer for 30 minutes or until thick and delicious

CROZIER BLUE CHEESE, WALNUT AND HONEY

Ingredients:
- 200g crozier blue cheese
- 50g Walnuts toasted
- 50ml jar of truffle
- Your favourite crackers

PARMESAN CHEESE STRAWS

Ingredients
- 1 roll of good quality shop-bought
- 50 g grated parmesan cheese
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- Sea salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp milk

Method:
1. Heat oven to 220c
2. Unroll the puff pastry
3. Brush with the egg wash
4. Scatter with the grated Parmesan, then fold in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out to the thickness of a €1 coin.
5. Cut into 1cm strips, then twist the strips 3-4 times.
6. Lay on a baking sheet, scatter over more cheese and bake for 12 mins, or until golden.
7. Leave to cool, and then keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days.