Sausage Rolls

I'm always looking for new recipes to try as part of my daily entertainment, and after discovering this awesome cooking show, The Fabulous Baker Brothers, I knew what my next project would be!  I decided to make some Sausage Rolls last week, inspired by the Baker Brother's Spicy Chorizo Sausage Rolls and their Rabbit Pie.

I wouldn't be able to recreate it exactly because I don't have half of these ingredients (even though the show is based in the UK) but I just sort of winged it and the result was pretty damn good.

The cast of characters: red onions, a lemon, mushrooms, butter ("a good knob of butter", the recipe said), eggs, bacon, sherry/madeira, roasted red pepps, puff pastry sheets, spicy red peppers, and flavored sausage (the recipe calls for chorizo, but I got cracked black pepper sausage and garlic/basil sausage). 

Take a large red onion or two small red onions and chop 'em up.

Throw them in a pan with some olive oil (and a little butter if you're feeling crazy) and sauté 'em up.  And chop up as many mushrooms as you want (I like a ton) and throw those in there too.  Stir them around and get them nice and brown.

Chop up your spicy red peppers and some cloves of garlic.

Throw those in the pan with the shrooms and onions and let those cook too.

Pour in some madeira wine/sherry and let the pan sizzle!  Scrape up all the brown bits and get that delish flavor into those veggies.

As I don't have a dishwasher and like to conserve the amount of times I have to wash things, I poured all the cooked-down veggie deliciousness into a bowl to use the pan again.

Then I heated up the pan again and squeezed the sausages out of their casing into the pan....

And browned it up until it's cooked through.

Slice up your roasted red peppers and add those to the bowl.

Brown the sausage....

And get those guys to the party too.

Stir it all up.  Add some seasonings too!  Salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, whatever you like.  Why not.

Then brown the bacon, or the "rasher"/ham the Irish call bacon, in the pan.

While that's cooking, zest a lemon and squeeze some juice in there with it.  I thought this was an odd addition but if the Baker boys say it, I'll do it.

Chop up your bacon/rasher.

And add that in.

Then it tells you to separate an egg and add the yolk to the mixture.  This means it's your last time to taste your heavenly sausage/bacon/veggie combo.  Drew said he could eat that alone as cereal.  Ha.

Now the mixture is complete.  I've never worked with puff pastry before, and honestly it kinda scared and intimidated me - but there was really no reason for it!  Except...you DO need to know how to use it.  For example, I thought it had to be frozen.  It's generally kept in the freezer section so I figured...you just take it out of the freezer and it's ready!  Wrong.  I guess it's supposed to be refrigerated but not frozen.  So much to my surprise, it was solid and wouldn't unroll...which meant I had to sit in front of the preheated oven and hold the puff pastry in the oven trying to thaw it.  Whoops.

After you defrost it, roll it out...

And put about half of your sausage mixture in the middle.

Kinda shape it like a long roll or tube, I guess.

Now it calls for egg wash on one edge, to seal it up when you bring the other side over.  I don't have a brush for these types of things so I used my fingers.

Fold the far side over the mixture and seal it.

Crimping it with a fork after you've sealed it helps it stay and just makes it look pretty.

Now cut it into three sections.  (Not sure why this picture appears sideways.)

And position those pups on your baking sheet.

Then repeat with the other puff pastry sheet and the sausage mixture.  After you have six good-looking rolls, it calls for you to egg wash all of the rolls.  Again, used my hands.

And then sprinkle smokey paprika over the top!  Mmmmm.  I love paprika.

Pop those guys in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.  Or around 400 degrees Fahrenheit if you must.

Lookin good!  Maybe a little overcooked but still a masterpiece in my eyes.

I had some frozen broccoli so I browned some onions and shrooms in a pan and threw the broccoli in to cook with them.  Salt, pepper, garlic and lemon juice - voila!  You have an easy side dish!

Yum city.

These weren't as beautiful as the Baker Brother's rolls, and I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but they turned out pretty well for my first attempt at puff pastry cooking.  As per usual, I didn't measure everything so I feel like I can't really post a specific recipe on here - but you can look at the two I used and combined a bit here and here.  I'll be experimenting more this fall so stay tuned!  Bon appetite!

TGIF

TGIF!  The week has flown by and I'm not even sure I did anything that exciting to warrant it.  Hmmm.

Monday was a slow day.  Life of leisure, hanging around the house, you know the drill.  My mom sent me an article from the Drudge Report that 47 officers were hurt this past weekend in Belfast during a riot about a parade.  Evidently on Sunday some Irish republicans (Catholics) marched their parade into the Protestant section and then a shit show/riot started, complete with bottles, bricks, and fireworks.  Geez Louise!  We really dodged a bullet (literally) by going two weekends ago and not this one.  This pretty much confirms I won't need to go back.  Noooo thanks.

On Tuesday, I ran some errands and hung around and then went over to the French Alliance to get an "assessment" of my French skills in order to place me in a class.  The Alliance is sort of a cultural center for all...Frenchness in Dublin.  They have a cafe and offer classes and show movies and organize other activities for the Francophiles living here.  One of my friends here talked about taking classes there last year (as she didn't have a job yet) so I figured...why not?  I'll at least go by, see what they have to offer, speak some elementary French to a person to get "assessed", and maybe sign up.  I figured the assessment would be no big deal, and I sat on a bench in line with several other people who were waiting for their assessments.  They all seemed to be speaking French.  Damnit.  There were 3 teachers, and the one that looked the nicest finally called me in - thank God.  Turns out, she WASN'T the nicest.  My stomach started twisting in knots as she spoke rapid fire French to me and everything I thought I knew flew right out of my head.  

Frenchie: AUpoiausdoifjasodpfiu??  (Rapid fire French).
Lauren: I'm sorry...?  Oh, I sit here? (Gesturing to a chair.  She nods.  I trip over myself and fall into the chair.)
Frenchie: SPOiuposifjapoisdjfaposidfu?  (More rapid fire French).
Lauren: Um..oh.  Wait.  What?  I'm sorry, you're asking if I have any French experience..?
Frenchie: Oui.  Tell me a little about your French, if you have any.
(She's speaking in English, so am I supposed to answer in English?  Or French?  I have my "J'ai etudie le francais quand j'etais un etudiant a l'Universite du Texas; il y a cinq ans." rehearsed in my head, but again...BLANK.)
Lauren: Oh.  Um right, I studied French in college, I'm American, I...went to UT, in Texas, and..it's been 5 years since I've done anything with it.  I mean I can read it but I have a hard time speaking it! Haha!  (Nervous laughter like a stupid dumbass.  She nods.)
Frenchie: Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?
Lauren: In French?  (She looks at me like I'm a stupid dumbass.)
Frenchie:  Um.  YES.
Lauren (Sweating profusely, and stuttering profusely)  Um ok, Je m'appelle Lauren, je suis Americaine, je suis ici porque mi esposo...oh wait, that's Spanish!  Hahahah!  Sorry! I also speak Spanish!  Um..je peux parler l'espagnol tambien.  I mean aussi.  I get confused.  HAHAHAH!  (The shrill, nervous laughter, stuttering, and sweating won't stop.  Please God make it stop.)  Je suis ici pourquoi mon...marie..?  Il est ici a...he's here to work.  I'm sorry.  (Just stop talking and then you can get the hell outta here and never show your face in this place again.)
Frenchie (trying to calm me down):  Ok, I'm going to give you this blank paragraph, and I want you to follow these instructions - write about what you like to do, what you did this past weekend, and what you are going to do this coming weekend.  I'll check back with you after I do another assessment.

I botched the paragraph, knew what I was trying to say but couldn't even make myself write it, and had officially decided I could never recover from this horribly embarrassing encounter and I would fling myself down the stairs after this was over and never think of it again.  Frenchie basically assessed that I should start at the "Beginner 2" level because I had a basic understanding of the language but still didn't know a damn thing about French or life in general.  Completely defeated, I walked to the Ginger Man to meet Drew for a pint and I may or may not have cried about my French experience and my confusion over the course my life is supposed to take here in Dublin.  Should I take a French class?  It's 350 euro!  That's a lot of money to keep me busy.  If I take one, when should I take it?  I'd like to take it during the day, but what if I get a job?  What if I NEVER get a job?  Should I take it at night?  Is taking French stupid?  I'll never use it in the States...which is also something I should have figured out when I decided to MINOR IN IT like a stupid dumb dummy.  I still don't know the answers to any of these questions so I'll let you know if and when I figure it out.

Tuesday was a low point.

But never fear!  Wednesday was fun; I met my friend Lauren at the Queen of Tarts (my fave place, have I said that before?) for a delicious lunch and chocolate cake and then walked to Dublin Castle with her to hang out.  I made some yummy sausage rolls for dinner I'll post about later.

Thursday was low key - I slept in, had a 3 mile run (yay!), read in the park, and met Tracy at The Cellar for the Professional Women's Network get together.  The PWN is a younger group of girls, some work, some don't, still associated with the American Women's Club, but who meet one Thursday night a month for drinks and a speaker.  We had a guy from the US Embassy come speak to us about consular services, so that was cool, and Tracy and I made new, cool, young friends!  None of them had kids, some worked, some didn't, and it was just...really fun.  We went out with them for drinks afterwards and we were both pumped to have met some nice cool sarcastic funny girls who like wine too.  Sweet relief!

Today...I'm doing stuff around the house, applying for a few more jobs, gonna go on a walk as we've had the best weather on record in Dublin for 5 DAYS STRAIGHT, and pack for Westport tomorrow!

I'm gonna go eat some lunch and be productive.  More posts about sausage rolls and Westport to come.  Happy Friday!

Notre Dame & Navy

The marching band was playing, the beer was flowing, the sun was shining: IT'S GAME DAY!!

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, ready for the only chance of a college football/fall experience we're gonna get here.  We accidentally missed the mass offered at Dublin Castle by the Archbishop of Dublin for the Notre Dame fans, but we met up with all of them as they filtered out of the Castle and followed the marching band down the street towards Temple Bar, parade style.  

Cute Notre Dame cheerleader.

Here they come!

The Notre Dame Drum Majors

The band!

Drum line!  I love drum lines.  What is it about them??

Massive crowd heading into Temple Bar.

We all went to THE actual Temple Bar (it's a bar, and also a general area) for some scoops (beers) and we drank them in plastic cups in the street, people watching mostly.  It was packed but also a really fun atmosphere!  We walked to another bar for a few more drinks and then headed to the stadium.

All the girls!  Autumn, Missy, Tracy, me, and Kelly (in town from England).  Friends!!

Tailgating in Temple Bar!

Evidently you're not allowed to drink on the streets here in Ireland, though they were relatively lenient on this rule for the game.  Not wanting to risk it, we bought huge beers from a convenience store outside of Temple Bar and poured them into coffee cups with the lid on.  It made me feel like a young girl of 19 again.  Ahh.  Memories.

Aviva Stadium with Missy, showing off her newly purchased Navy scarf.

Drew and Tom, each doing their college symbols.

Aviva!

Cool stadium.

Gettin' ready for kickoff.

Oh hey!

The fans were flinging this poor kid up in the air counting every point Notre Dame scored, after each point scored.  Kinda funny.

Look!  The Navy band made a shamrock at halftime!

Drew was interviewed after the game by some group with a Naval affiliation.  I think they picked up on his shirt color that was completely out of place.  But appreciated nonetheless.

The guy standing next to me watching this interview asked "Does he always talk with his hands?"  Answer: Yes.

Hook em

Chillin' after the game at one of our favorite pubs!

We hung out at a few more pubs, went and tried to get some pizza with our pals but couldn't get a table due to one of our acquaintance's drunkenness, and finally settled on Thai food.  We were all exhausted from our valiant efforts of drinking beer all day and were home and in bed by 11pm!  It was a great day with friends and I think we all felt like it was a little taste of home, even though we were far from it.  American football teams should do this in Dublin EVERY year!  I'm just sayin'.

Busy Little Thursday

I'm back and I successfully survived my first American Women's Club function.  Whew!  I circled the house where it was several times and Drew had to give me a pep talk but I finally took a deep breath and went in, after debating what would happen if I just lied and told Drew I went but actually went to the pub instead.  I think my biggest fear was walking in, greeting people, and then being ushered into a room where people were already talking to each other and I would stand there like a dumbass.  That only happened like once or twice and it wasn't even that traumatic.  Thankfully.

The Newcomer's Coffee Group was at a woman's luxurious apartment in Ballsbridge and I walked in and met a wide variety of women!  I'd say on average, the ages were between 35-70 years old (yes, 70 years old),  all of them had an average of 3 children each, and all of them lived in far away in the suburbs of Dublin.  Not exactly in the same life stage as me but...oh well.  I hung out with an older woman from NYC who was funny and friendly, and told me about how her 37 year old daughter was dating for the first time ever and was really enjoying all the sex she'd been having.  She then leaned in close and in her heavy New York accent said "Get this!  He's a CYCLIST!  I bet he really knows how to RIDE!" And then she burst out laughing.  Awesome.  WTF.  Besides the interesting characters there, I learned about the Professional Women's group, and other opportunities and ways to get involved.  I think it'll ultimately be a good thing for me, and it's probably one of those things where I'll get as much out of it as I put into it.  More than anything, it just felt so wonderful to hear every single one of them say "Yes, it's hard.  No, it's not just you.  Living abroad is hard.  THIS IS HARD."  That was such a relief and such a validation of my feelings.  I'm glad I went.  But don't tell Drew.

After this anxiety-ridden event was over, I got to prepare for my next one: the dinner party at PWC for anyone and everyone affiliated with the States, the Navy, or Notre Dame.  In case you didn't know, Notre Dame and Navy are playing an American football game in Dublin this weekend!  Around 30,000 Americans are flying in for it and the city has been preparing all week.  Hotels and pubs have signs welcoming the visitors and people are walking around the city in all of their gear.  So PWC generously had a huge dinner function on Thursday night for everyone, and all of us got to go!  This naturally meant I was having anxiety about what to wear and meeting Drew's work people in general.  But like everything else in my life, it wasn't at all bad - it was actually FUN and I freaked out for nothing.  Lots of good food and drinks and tons of schmoozing but a good time regardless!

Drew learning to pour his own Guinness.

Success!

Beautiful view from the top floor of PWC.

  

L+D = <3 td="td">

More beautiful views.

Huge Naval ship in for the game.

The food was REALLY good, and this was our dessert - some sort of cheesecake, strawberries, and a pudding.  It was at the end of the night and the wine was flowing and I wolfed it down before I knew what was happening.  Whoops.

 Now that these two anxious-but-really-fun events are over, we can focus on the good times ahead this weekend!  I'll report back on the game on Sunday.  Cheers!