This week’s holiday appetizer is my Turkey-Cranberry Holiday Strudel! This recipe is so versatile that it can be served as an appetizer course for a fancy dinner OR can even be used as a recipe for holiday brunch!
Read on to learn about the ingredients I used and how to make it!
Red Barn Market’s Turkey-Cranberry Sausage
One of the main ingredients in this Turkey-Cranberry Holiday Strudel is Turkey-Cranberry sausage from Red Barn Market. Filled with ground turkey, cranberries, and holiday spices, this sausage must make an appearance at your home this holiday season! This sausage is savoury, but also sweet (perhaps from the addition of maple syrup?!), so it’s very reminiscent of a breakfast sausage flavour, but with some festive cranberries added in!
If you’re a resident of Victoria or southern Vancouver Island, you should definitely pick up a package (or two!) of these sausages for this recipe at any Red Barn Market location across the city!
If you live outside Victoria, you can still make this recipe! Just simply substitute the Turkey-Cranberry sausage with your favourite breakfast sausage or sweet Italian sausage. Those would work beautifully in this recipe as well!
Seasonal Veggies & Local Cheese
Building on these holiday flavours in the sausage, I also added some of my favourite seasonal vegetables. Yukon Gold potatoes are used to bind the sausage mixture together. The potato also add nice chunks throughout the strudel. I really enjoy the flavour and texture of Yukon Gold potatoes as they are super soft and creamy. Sautéed leeks also add a nice mild onion flavour to this Turkey-Cranberry Holiday Strudel. But instead of mixing the leeks into the filling, I opted to add it directly on top of the filling to get a nice layered effect.
Apart from the sausage, locally made brie from Natural Pastures Cheese Company really makes this Turkey-Cranberry Holiday Strudel fit for the holidays! The Comox Brie is one of my favourite locally made brie cheeses. It always has a place on my homemade cheese boards, and in tons of recipes. While the Comox Brie is amazing itself, if you want to get more decadent, swap it out for their delicious Comox Camembert!
Get the Recipe!
Whether you serve this as a holiday appetizer or at your holiday brunch, this Turkey-Cranberry Holiday Strudel is the perfect holiday recipe! Get the full recipe down below!
Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram (@seasonserveblog) if you make this recipe!
Enjoy!
Turkey-Cranberry Holiday Strudel
Ingredients
- 3 strips Red Barn Market Double Smoked Bacon
- 4 links Red Barn Market Turkey-Cranberry Sausage
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- Water for boiling
- 1 cup Yukon gold potato about one large potato
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup leeks thinly sliced (white parts only)
- 100 g Natural Pastures Comox Brie or brie of your choice, sliced into ½ cm slices
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour for rolling out pastry
- 2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon to the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes per side until golden brown and cooked through. Drain the bacon on a paper towel and set aside to cool. Reserve the bacon fat in the pan for the next step.
- Remove the casing from the Turkey-Cranberry sausages and discard. Add the sausage filling to the frying pan with the dried thyme and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Use a spoon or spatula to break up the sausage into pea-sized pieces. Fry for 8-10 minutes, or until the sausage is browned and cooked through. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Chop the bacon into thin slices and add it to the bowl with the sausage, along with the dried cranberries. Mix everything to combine and set aside.
- Next, add the sliced leeks to the pan and fry for 5 minutes or until soft and lightly golden brown. Once cooked, place the leeks in a separate small bowl and set aside to cool completely. Reserve for later use.
- Peel the Yukon gold potato and cut into 1-centimetre cubes. Add the cubes to a small pot filled with water along with 1 teaspoon of salt. Place the pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 8 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Drain the potatoes from the water. Add ½ cup of the potatoes to the sausage mixture along with the butter and mix through, breaking up the potatoes as much as possible to help bind the filling together. Place the sausage mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to cool completely. Reserve the remaining ½ cup of potatoes for later use.
- After 30 minutes, remove the sausage filling from the refrigerator. Crack 1 egg into a bowl and use a fork to gently whisk it together. Add the egg to the sausage mixture followed by the remaining ½ cup of potatoes. Gently fold the egg and potatoes into the sausage mixture. Once folded in, place it back into the refrigerator until you are ready to add it to the puff pastry.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.
- Roll out your puff pastry into a 12x12 inch square. Use all-purpose flour for rolling as necessary. Transfer the puff pastry to the parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Fold the sides of the puff pastry into the center so that the edges meet in the middle. Gently press along the edges to create a seam, but do not tear the puff pastry. This will create three 4-inch panels. Unfold the sides of the pastry so that it lays flat and you can see the three panels.
- Use a sharp knife to cut slits into the two side panels about 1-inch in width, following the seams that were made earlier. Angle the slits upward on a 45-degree angle to make it look pretty when you fold it together. Do not make any cuts into the middle panel.
- Place the sausage filling in the middle panel, making sure that it is even in thickness across the entire puff pastry. Top with the leeks and sliced brie.
- Braid the pastry by crossing the strips over the sausage filling in an overlapping pattern.
- Crack the remaining egg into a bowl and add the milk. Whisk together then use a pastry brush to brush the strudel evenly with the egg wash. Sprinkle the top of the strudel evenly with the sesame seeds.
- Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Notes
• If your puff pastry gets too warm when you are braiding it, place the assembled strudel in the refrigerator for 15 minutes prior to baking.
