Highland Sausage Roll

10 oz Venison (trimmed weight)

6 oz Belly of pork (trimmed wt.)

2 oz Pitted prunes

1 sm Onion

Remains of a pot of tea 3 tb Port

Allspice, thyme or Worcester 1 lb Ready-made puff pastry

Beaten egg to glaze Mince the meats fairly finely, chop the onion very finely and mix together. Season with a good grinding of pepper - but no salt - and some allspice, thyme or a few shakes of Worcester sauce. Pour on the port and mix well, then cover and leave for several hours or overnight to allow the flavours to blend. Cover the prunes with cold tea and leave to soak for several hours. Season the sausagemeat with salt and roll it into a long, fat sausage shape. Roll the pastry out to a rectangle and lay the 'sausage" down the length of it. Lay the whole drained prunes on top of the meat. Damp one long edge with beaten egg, roll up carefully and seal. Alternatively you may like to enclose the sausage in a decorative pastry plait. In this case, roll the pastry out to a square, lay the 'sausage" down the centre and place the whole drained prunes on top. Cut the pastry diagonally into 1/2-inch strips on either side of the meat. Damp the end of each pastry

strip with beaten egg then fold the strips alternately from each side, over the meat to create a plait effect. Seal the pastry ends. Slide the pastry parcel on to a damp baking sheet and glaze the top. If you have made a sausage roll, decorate it with pastry leaves and make one or two steam slits in the top of the pastry. Bake at 425 F (220 C) gas mark 4 for a further 25 minutes or so. Source: Philippa Davenport in "Country Living" (British), November 1988.