Sprout spring rolls

Christmas isn’t Christmas without sprouts. Its not often you find sprouts in canapés, so these are quirky but lovely.

Peel and halve 350g sprouts and steam them for 8-10minutes in a little salted water, until quite tender but not soft and mushy. Drain and leave in a colander to steam dry, then chop them roughly into small pieces. Drizzle over 3-4 tbsp of double cream – enough to coat them lightly and moisten them, but not so much that the mixture becomes runny. Add a good sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Unwrap 1 packet of filo pastry – normally 6 slices. Melt around 50g butter. Lay one sheet of filo on your surface and brush some melted butter over half of it, before folding in half. Then cut the folded sheet of filo into two long thin strips. Filo can be a bit frangible, but the odd tear will make no difference.

spring rolls, ready to wrap and roll

Butter the edges of each strip – about 1cm from the edge should be fine. At one end of each strip smear on a little cranberry sauce, followed by a couple of spoonfuls of the sprout mixture, then sprinkle over a good pinch of chopped hazelnuts. Fold the edge of the long sides of the pastry up to cover the sides of the filling, then roll up from the filled end to form a log shape. Brush the outsides with a little more melted butter.

Repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling to make 12 spring rolls. Bake in the oven on 180C fan for 15-20mins until golden and crispy.

Shopping list:
350g sprouts
3-4 tbsp double cream
6 sheets filo pastry
50g butter
A couple of spoonfuls of cranberry sauce
25g (ish) finely chopped hazelnuts

(PS – all the pictures of these came out a bit blurry – it turns out photography and mulled wine don’t go together. I will hopefully update them soon!)