Spiced black bean, sweet potato and cheese vegetarian sausage rolls

Roasted sweet potato, black beans, cheese and loads of fresh herbs and spices. These vegetarian sausage rolls are loaded with flavour, fibre, texture and colour wrapped in golden, flakey puff pastry.  I love these served with my favourite tomato and chilli relish.

This recipe is also available as a step-by-step video cookalong, showing you everything from achieving the perfect filling to the technique of filling, rolling, slicing and baking the rolls as well as how to make them ahead, store and freeze them on Supper Club's membership platform.

Time to prepare : 30 minutes (+ 30 minutes chill time) Time to bake: 30 minutes

Makes: 32

Ingredients

1 sweet potato (about 250g), cubed

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground cumin1 tsp ground coriander

400g tin black beans, drained and rinsed

60g Panko (or regular) breadcrumbs

120g cheddar cheese, grated

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Handful of parsley, roughly chopped (leaves and stalks)

Zest of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper, to season

2 x sheets all-butter ready rolled puff pastry (I use 2 x 320g sheets)*

1 egg

To garnish: nigella seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds or sage leaves

Method

1. Pre-heat a fan oven to 200ºC.

2. Put the cubed sweet potato in a roasting tin and toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt. Roast for 20 - 25 minutes until tender when pricked with a fork. Remove from the oven and set to one side.

3. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add the onion with a pinch of salt. Sauté for a few minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute until golden. Turn the heat to low and add in the paprika, cumin and coriander, stirring to mix everything together. Remove from the heat.

4. In a large mixing bowl, add the roasted sweet potato, black beans, breadcrumbs, grated cheese, herbs and lemon zest. Use a fork or potato masher to roughly mash everything together, leaving some whole beans and sweet potato chunks. This makes the filling easier to handle and compact together later. Add in the cooked and spiced onion and garlic. Mix everything together well and taste test for seasoning, adding more salt or pepper if needed.

5. Prepare the egg wash by whisking the egg in a small bowl or mug.

6. Unroll the pastry sheets, keeping them on the baking paper they come in. Use a sharp knife to cut each strip in half lengthways, so you end up with 4 long strips in total.

7. Scoop out 1/4 of the filling mixture and lay it in the centre of one of the pastry strips, creating a long 'log' shape. Egg wash one long side of the pastry strip, which will act like a 'glue' to stick the pastry together, and then use your hands to fold the pastry over the filling into a long roll.

8. Use your hands to gently squeeze and encompass the filling so you get nice and tightly packed rolls, then use fingertips to pinch the pastry seam together to help seal everything in and stop the filling from spilling out.

9. Repeat until all of the strips have been filled. Place the rolls in the fridge for at least 30 minutes*, saving the remaining egg wash for later.

10. When you're ready to bake them, pre-heat a fan over to 180ºC and line a baking sheet (or two) with baking paper.

11. Remove the rolls from the fridge. Flip them over so they're seam-side-down and use the remaining egg wash to brush all over the top and sides of the rolls. Top with nigella seeds (or whatever you're using) and use a sharp knife to slice each roll into 5cm chunks (about 8 slices per roll).

12. Move the sliced rolls onto the prepared baking sheet(s) and bake for 30 minutes until golden.

13. Serve warm, leftovers can be eaten cold or for storage notes or how to make them ahead of time, see the notes below*.

Nutritional Information

(per roll)

125 calories

4g protein, 11g carbs, 6g fat

Good to know:

• You can buy puff-pastry in the fridge or freezer section of supermarkets. I prefer all-butter ones (I use the brand 'Jus-Roll'). If you're using frozen puff pastry sheets, defrost them overnight in the fridge or at room temperature for at least 4 hours before using.

• To make these gluten-free, use GF puff pastry and GF breadcrumbs.

• Chilling the rolls in the fridge before baking them helps to firm up the pastry, making them easier to slice and prevents them from unravelling in the oven. Chill them for at least 30 minutes (or up to 3 days if making them ahead of time).

• You can store any leftover filling in the fridge for up to 3 days.

• Store unbaked sausage rolls (pre-egg wash) in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container or in the freezer for up to 3 months on a sheet of baking paper to stop them from sticking. Bake from frozen, simply egg wash them, decorate with seeds and add an extra 10 minutes to the baking time.

• Store baked sausage rolls in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge, I use a folded kitchen paper towel to keep the pastry crisp and absorb any moisture. Enjoy them chilled or re-heat in an oven at 200ºC for 10 minutes.

• Freeze baked sausage rolls in an airtight container for up to 3 months on a sheet of baking paper to stop them from sticking. Re-heat in an oven at 200ºC for 20 minutes.

• If you want all of my tips and tricks on making, filling, rolling and baking sausage rolls check out the step-by--step video on Supper Club's membership platform.