Ingredients:  Serves 6

• 1 medium sized onion

• 2 cloves of crushed garlic

• 650g of locally sourced sausage meat

• 1 free range egg (beaten)

• Herbs, fresh or dried. 1tsp each of sage and thyme plus a few fennel seeds

• 600g of puff pastry (plus extra if you want to do more elaborate decorations)

• Norfolk rapeseed oil

Method:

– Sweat the onion in a pan with a splash of oil and a pinch of salt over a low-medium heat for 10 minutes. (Don’t skip this step as the soft onions give a delicious sweetness to the sausage meat).

– Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the herbs and stir well. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool.

– Put the sausage meat into a bowl, add the sweated onions and garlic and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. You can taste the mix at this stage by frying off a small amount in a pan. Add more herbs or seasoning if required.

– Cut a small end off the pastry for the decorations.

– Roll the pastry out into one long piece, approximately 70cm long and 15cm wide, around the thickness of a £1 coin. Try to keep it as oblong as possible and don’t let your corners disappear!

– Lay the sausage meat mixture along the middle in a long mound, trying to keep it as even as possible.

– Brush some of the beaten egg along the edges beside the meat and fold the sides in, so you have one huge sausage roll.

– Keep rolling until you have a round shape and then join the ends, by pinching the pastry and smoothing it over.

– Using the leftover pastry, roll it out to the same thickness as before and cut a strip as a seal to go around the messy join. Then use cutters to create stars, or holly leaves to stick on top.

– Preheat a fan oven to 180°C. (200°C for a non-fan oven)

– Put the wreath into the fridge for half an hour to set the pastry.

– Brush with beaten egg and put onto the middle shelf of the oven for 35 minutes until browned and puffed up.

– Using a skewer or a knife, (or a thermometer if you have one) check that the meat inside is piping hot. If not, cook for a little longer.

– Leave to cool slightly before serving with a section of your favourite festive relishes and chutneys.