Black pudding and apple sausage rolls

Serves 4-6

I've given the sausage roll - another debased picnic staple - a bit of a makeover here. Black pudding varies from region to region. The best I've come across on my travels is in Ireland, but there's a lovely one from Stornaway, and Bury in Lancashire is rightly famous for its black pudding too.

If you're making sausages rolls - or doing anything with puff pastry, I'd always recommend using good butter puff pastry, such as Dorset Pastry, which Waitrose sells.

200g good-quality puff pastry, rolled to 1/3cm
Flour for dusting
1 egg, beaten
300g black pudding
1 cooking apple, peeled and cored
1tbsp caster sugar

Chop the apple into chunks and put it into a small, thick-bottomed pan on a low heat with a lid. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring every so f often until the apple has cooked to a purée. Sweeten with the sugar, according to taste, and leave to cool.

Peel the black pudding, and mash the flesh with a fork and mix in the apple.

Spoon some of the mixture down the edge of the pastry then roll the pastry over the black pudding. Brush some egg where the pastry joins and trim the pastry to form a roll. Place the pastry on a baking tray and repeat with the rest of the mixture. Mark lines on the top with the point of a knife and brush with the beaten egg.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes, or until golden, then leave to cool. Serve cut into bite-sized pieces.