Armadillo Pie

Printed Recipe
Serves 4

1 lb ground sausage
3 slices bacon, diced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 packet stuffing mix or about 1 cup crushed croutons, or 1 cup bread crumbs, which you can then season to your taste (If I use bread crumbs, I season them with sage and poultry seasoning)
1 egg, beaten
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

Open the puff pastry to form an oblong about 10" by 8", if it isn't already oblong shaped. When unfolded, there should be three distinct sections.

Mix the sausage, bacon, onion, and stuffing mix together with about 3/4 of the beaten egg to bind.

Spread the sausage mixture down the center of the pastry, leaving about 1 to 1/2 inch at each end. Cut diagonal strips, about 1" wide down the length of each side of the pastry (see diagram below). Plait the strips across the sausage mixture, sealing well. (A little water will seal the pastry edges together.) Glaze with the remaining egg.

Place on a baking tray and bake at 375 for about 35 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

Holly's Note:
This is one of my husband's favorite meals from his British childhood. My father-in-law wrote out recipes for me. This one included the hand-drawn diagram for cutting the puff pastry. I always called it a Sausage Plait, but my husband calls it Armadillo Pie! I have to cook two for our family.

And before you ask, it's like a meatloaf, you don't cook the sausage ahead of time.  Armadillo Pie is probably the unhealthiest meal you could ever make. But, it is tasty!

This is The Artist's favorite meal of all time. If you ask him what he wants for dinner, he will ALWAYS say Armadillo Pie. Without fail. He will take it to school the next day for lunch and eat it cold. He shares it with friends and I'm sure there is many a middle schooler who has gone home and told his mother that he had Armadillo Pie for lunch and she wonders what the heck he's talking about!