Posh Dogs - Marks and Spencers gluten free outdoor-reared giant sausages

M&S gluten free 'posh dogs'

Another visit to a motorway service station and a hunt for something to eat in the M&S.  A hand of tiny sweet bananas and a fruit jelly....and a packet of 'Posh Dog's for later in the campervan. These are large sausages that beg for a soft roll, mustard and a pile of softly cooked onions.

These sausages say they are best cooked on the barbecue, but I just did them indoors in a pan as it was late and I was hungry.  They take a while to cook, but are very good and well worth adding to your repertoire, particularly if we get a summer where eating outside is possible.  We ate these hot and also cold with chutney.

They do contain sulphites, but none of the other standard allergens.  They are made from outdoor reared pork.

Marks and Spencer Pork, Sage and Onion garnish selection - gluten free

I noticed this box of stuffing balls, bacon rolls and cocktail sausages in the freezer section in M and S.  Missing out on the stuffing and just being given plain turkey and vegetables (often without gravy) is a standard complaint at this time of year - too many work Christmas lunches just leave us feeling annoyed and left out.  One person wrote that their piece of turkey had the hole in the middle where the stuffing had been removed, despite the catering team having been given ample notice.  This would mean that the turkey wasn't safe to eat.

I cooked these according to the instructions but think that left them overcooked.  When 35 of the specified 45 minutes are finished check to see if they are done.  I would also recommend placing baking paper on the baking pan as I found they stuck to the tin.

The stuffing balls were tasty, good consistency, and not cloying or overpoweringly flavoured.  They are made with rice flour, chickpea flour and cornflour. The sausages had a good balance of flavours and were neither bouncy or bready. The bacon was crisp and well flavoured.

This little pack of 'garnishes' makes giving people a full plate of goodies to go with their turkey very easy.  Highly recommended.

Almost instant sausage rolls - dairy-free, gluten-free

sausage roll, gluten and dairy-free

Usual thing, had the TV on to see a programme about artisan beer and they started eating sausage rolls.  Immediately I wanted one for lunch.  I had some gluten and dairy-free hotdogs in the fridge.  I had some of my flour pre-mixed (40%urid, 40%tapioca, 20% cornmeal) and I had a block of hard white vegetable fat.

I grated some of the fat into a bowl.  As it turned out to be 60gm I added 120gm flour, stirred them together, then added cold water until the mix stuck together.  I didn't knead it at all as I wondered if it would produce a flaky effect.

I rolled this out and wrapped pastry around each hot dog.  Cooked sausages would have worked fine too.  I placed these on a baking sheet, brushed a little egg yolk mixed with water on top - I thought the pastry would be unlikely to brown by itself as it didn't have butter or egg or sugar in it.

I cooked these for about 15minutes at 180C until they were golden and the pastry firm.  You can see the pastry has slightly shrunk away from the hot-dog because it hadn't been kneaded at all.

These were crisp and amusing to eat.  The pastry holds together well enough for them to be finger food or taken on a picnic.  From seeing the initial sausage rolls on TV to eating them for lunch took about 20 minutes.