Hands up if you are in the midst of the festive season and need party platter ideas and recipes! You’re not alone and don’t feel overwhelmed. I feel like I’m preparing more and more kids party foods than ever before. The season started off with healthy fruit kebabs, and very quickly moved onto cookies and savoury snacks. Last week I made these savoury pastries for my sons festive party at school and although they took some time to prepare, they taste better than the ready-made versions and are made with real ingredients and no preservatives.

Making pastry snacks from scratch needn’t be complicated. Once you get the hang of the basic steps, you can move onto different fillings and party platters will be a breeze. My kids loved the meaty versions but they’re just as delicious with vegetarian fillings such as spinach and feta. Give it a go and watch them fly off the platters.

For those of you who like to read labels, puff pastry is often made using preservatives to last longer. Take the time to find a brand that only has these ingredients: flour, butter, water, salt. The recipe below uses frozen puff pastry, which requires defrosting before you can add the filling. Make sure the pastry is still cold when you roll it out as it’s easier to work with.

Sausage rolls

Makes about 40 mini sausage rolls

1kg organic and free range beef or chicken mince

1 slice of day old sourdough bread, roughly chopped

1 medium potato, peeled and roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled

1/2 cup fresh parsley

1 teaspoon Himalayan salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 - 2 eggs

2 x 100g boxes frozen puff pastry, defrosted

Flour for rolling

1. For the filling, place the bread, potato, garlic, parsley and seasoning in a food processor and pulse until all the ingredients are finely chopped. Place the mixture into a large bowl with the mince and mix with a fork to combine. Do not over mix otherwise the filling will be tough. If the filling looks a little dry, add one lightly beaten egg and mix through. Set aside in the refrigerator until the pastry has thawed.

2. Once your pastry is ready, preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F. Roll out the pastry onto a floured surface. Cut each pastry sheet in half, horizontally so you have two long rectangles per sheet. Place teaspoon fulls of mince filling down the length of each divided sheet. Beat the remaining egg in a small bowl with a few drops of water. Brush the egg wash on the edge of the sheet and roll up into a long sausage roll. Use a sharp knife to cut into 6 pieces. Place the mini sausage rolls onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Repeat until all the filling and pastry is used up.

3. Brush the tops of each sausage roll with egg wash and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden on top and on the bottom. Remove from the oven and allow to cool or serve warm with tomato sauce.

Notes:

• If you have kids who don’t like puff pastry, the meat filling can be used to make healthy grilled meatballs. Simply roll into balls brush generously with extra virgin olive oil and grill on a baking sheet lined with baking paper until golden, turning once during cooking. Kids love them served with veggie sticks and a dipping sauce.

• Replace meat with a spinach and feta filling. You can use the filling from my spanakopita recipe for a vegetarian option, without the phyllo pastry fuss.