Roll your sleeves

Pork and Fennel Roll

I borrowed this book Bourke Street Bakery and made this. I have not tried these rolls before nor have I been to the famous Bourke Street Bakery in Sydney. The last time I visited Sydney was some 20 over years ago on work trip. The fillings tasted a bit like the Chinese version of ngoh hiang which has minced pork and prawns,chopped chestnut and five spice powder, wrapped in dry bean curd skin and deep fried.. I wonder if the original version taste much differently from mine. The pastry is store bought and I used Pampas ready to roll short puff pastry. You may want to make this yourself as these rolls make good tea time treats.

Ingredients
30 ml extra virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
40g fennel seeds, finely chopped
4 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
150g brown onions, finely chopped
150g celery, finely chopped
150g carrots, finely chopped
1.2 kg lean minced pork
40g dry breadcrumbs
20g salt
15g white pepper
1 quantity puff pastry
egg wash for brushing
fennel seeds, for sprinkling

Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the fennel seeds and thyme and stir together for 1 minute, or until aromatic. Add the onion and celery and cook for 5 minutes, or until the onion has softened.
3. Add the carrots and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are mushy.
4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
5. Put the pork mince into a large bowl and add the cooled vegetables, breadcrumbs,salt and white pepper.
6.Using your hands, mix the meat quite forcefully for 3 minutes to thoroughly combine.
7. At this stage it is best to roll up a little ball of the meat mixture and cook it in a hot frying pan for 2 minutes to check the flavour.
8. You may find it is too salty, however once the mix is encased in pastry the saltiness should even out,. But if you cannot taste the salt at all than you need to add a pinch or two more,
9/ Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle, about 92x32 cm. Cut the pastry into six rectangles about 15x30 cm each.
10.Preheat the oven to 200C
11.Divide the filling mixture into six even-sized portions.
12.On a clean work surface, roll each portion out into a 30cm log with a 3cm diameter
13./Place each log lengthways in the centre of a pastry rectangle and brush one long edge with egg wash.
14.Firmly fold the pastry over, pressing to enclose the log tightly, leaving the ends open. Cut each roll into two even-sized pieces and place on baking trays lined with baking paper, seam side down.
15.Brush the top of each roll with egg wash and sprinkle with fennel seeds. Reduce the oven temperature to 190C and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until they are a golden brown roll of steaming oozing goodness.


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