Thursday (5 June) is National Sausage Roll Day, and so in honour of this fine staple of British cuisine, I whipped up the following two recipes for sausage rolls with a gamey twist...

INGREDIENTS

• One sheet ready made puff pastry
• One egg
• A splash of milk
• 1 supermarket packet of fresh thyme
• Salt
• Black pepper

For the wild boar and fennel sausage rolls:

• Three wild boar sausages
• One bulb of fennel
• Half an onion
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• Zest of half a lemon
• Olive oil

For the venison and Cumberland reduction rolls:

• Three venison sausages
• One onion
• 30g butter
• 250ml ruby port
• 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• Mustard (Dijon preferable, but Colman's will work too)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°C/Gas Mark 5.

2. Start with the Cumberland reduction. Add the port, redcurrant jelly, orange zest and juice, and one generous teaspoon of mustard to a saucepan, and place over a high heat. Reduce until thick and syrupy, stirring occasionally to break up the mustard and redcurrant jelly. Remove from heat and set to one side.

3. For the venison sausage rolls, finely dice one onion. Add the butter to a saucepan, and when beginning to bubble, add the onion, along with thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until golden brown and starting to crisp. Remove from heat.

4. When cool, add the cooked onion to a mixing bowl. Slice the skins of the venison sausages, and add the meat to the mixture, before pouring in the Cumberland reduction as well. Mix thoroughly, and set the bowl to one side.

5. For the wild boar and fennel sausage rolls, finely dice half an onion and the fennel (any attached fennel leaves can be removed and added back in later). Mince the garlic clove. Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil to a saucepan, and when hot, add the onion, fennel, fennel seeds, garlic, along with thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until golden brown. Remove from heat.

6. When cool, add the cooked onion and fennel mix to a bowl. Slice the skins of the wild boar sausages, and add the meat to the mixture, before adding the lemon zest. Mix thoroughly, and set the bowl to one side.

7. Line a tray with baking paper, and roll out the puff pastry onto the paper. Cut in half to create two rectangles of pastry. Using a teaspoon, spread a thin layer of mustard down the middle of one of the pastry rectangles. Take the venison sausage mixture and roll it with your hands into a long sausage shape, before laying along the mustard coated pastry section. Take the wild boar mixture and repeat this process for the other pastry section.

8. Mix the egg with a splash of milk to make an egg wash. Brush the edges of the pastry with the wash, then fold one side of the pastry over, wrapping the filling inside. Use your fingers or a fork  to seal the join.

9. Cut the rolls into the sizes you would like, and spread them out on the baking tray. Brush them with more of the egg wash, and sprinkle fennel seeds on top of the wild boar sausage rolls. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden, crisp and cooked through. Serve hot, or enjoy later.