Call me old school, but I still can’t resist a sausage roll! They are my ultimate party food – yes a bit of a guilty pleasure so this recipe is a healthier twist on a classic.  There’s something pretty wonderful about anything encased in flaky pastry, so by substituting the meat content with a lovely mushroom medley vegans and vegetarians needn’t be short changed at Christmas. I selected a lovely array of mixed mushroom from my local market, but by all means use ones that are available to you.

I really adore these shimeji mushrooms – they are now the third most popular mushroom in Japan after shitake and enoki. They have a thin white stork base and speckled brown caps that are so pretty, almost magical looking!

Surprisingly they have no aroma but their texture and flavour once cooked is lovely buttery smooth and slightly nutty. Although they look really delicate and fragile, they do stay intact once cooked.

The reason I use these is so that I can poke them out of the filling with a tiny sprig of rosemary so it looks like a little woodland scene – yes a bit fiddly but when I make them and hand them around they just make people smile.

I guess it’s my strange fascination with anything cute and miniature!

You can prepare these mushroom rolls in advance – they can be frozen before cooking and then glazed and cooked from frozen for about 30-35 minutes.. Serve with your favourite sauce, piccalilli or Christmas chutney!

Ingredients (makes 20)

Olive oil
1/2 red onion finely chopped
1 stalk of celery finely chopped
300 g mushrooms (of your choice) roughly chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Splash of white wine
Sea salt (smoked if you can find it)
Freshly ground black pepper
50g fresh white breadcrumbs
Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
Handful of chopped chives
1 sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry  (look for veg oil based)
Soy or almond milk
2 teaspoons black onion seeds (or sesame seeds)
100g shimeji mushrooms
Fresh rosemary sprigs to garnish

Method

•    Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper.
•    Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan and add the chopped onion and celery. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden but not brown! Add the garlic and chopped mushrooms. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
•    Add the mustard and wine, season with salt and pepper, then reduce the heat to low and cook for another 5 minutes, or until all the liquid has evaporated.
•    Add breadcrumbs and finely chopped herbs then season to taste.
•    Cut the sheets of puff pastry in half lengthways so you have two equal-sized pieces. Spoon half of the mushroom mixture along the middle of one length of pastry, moulding it into a long sausage shape with your hands.
•    Brush the almond or soy milk along the pastry edges then press to seal
•    Place the rolls on the prepared baking tray, brush with the almond milk and sprinkle over the onion or sesame seeds.
•    Put in a hot oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool
•    Meanwhile lightly sauté the shimeji mushrooms in a frying pan with a little olive oil – about 5 minutes. Now carefully slice the cooked mushroom rolls into 2cm discs. Place on a platter filling side up and gently place a couple of shimeji mushrooms into the filling with a spring of rosemary. Cuteness on a plate!