SAUSAGE rolls are something of a cliche.

Put three or four people in a room with a few drinks and nibbles and someone will always trot out of the kitchen with a plateful of greasy, frozen, puff-pastry sausage rolls piping hot from the oven to soak up the beer!

Classic sausage rolls are lengths of sausagemeat wrapped in flaky puff or shortcrust pastry which is at least 50 per cent fat and baked until well risen and golden.

As always I like to put my own stamp on a classic recipe – I see nothing wrong with tinkering with an idea until it is as good as it can be.

There is much pleasure in honing a dish to perfection to add your own signature, a gut feeling that you might have when the mixing bowl comes out.

My sausage plait recipe does look impressive yet it's easy to make using pork sausagemeat and caramelized onions encased with English mature Cheddar cheese and mustard-flavoured bread.

The variations of fillings are endless and the taste of the filling is always the key to success. I would recommend choosing your favourite sausages or sausagemeat, or something more unusual if like me you want to experiment.

You might consider spicy, vegetation, pork or beef. You could jazz things up a little with a good dollop of relish, English mustard, apple or brown sauce, or even flavour the dough with beer and a mixture of grated cheese and chopped spring onions.

My rustic homemade version of this old pastry classic, apparently a poor man's Wellington or a posh sausage roll, dates back to pre-Victorian times (before Gregg's the bakers) when sausage rolls were baked in a simple, basic bread dough and often served the local farm hands as a tasty, portable lunch. Now we're talking!

Bread and pork sausages do go exceptionally well together and by using a simple, basic bread dough, you make the finished product much more robust and less greasy, even when cold.

Puff-pastry or bread dough? Bread dough is a deceptively easy choice for any novice baker and can be accomplished with ease.

Caramelized onions skyrocket any dish. You can't rush them, so don't bump up the heat on the hob and scorch the bottom of the pan. Do not add the brown sugar too early, or they'll lack the deep, hauntingly savoury flavour.

The only way is to grab a big pan, set the heat to low and slowly cook the onions. I like to use red onions, the best for baking, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. The natural sugars in the onion layers will caramelize steadily, but keep stirring and after five minutes add the brown sugar.

Your nose and taste buds will be the judge - when you can't resist eating them straight out of the pan, they're done, trust me on that one!

This fantastic, fun recipe is ideal to make with the kids, freezes well, and stays together when transported to picnics. Very little fat, and that must be a winner this time of year!