Core and peel the apple, then slice finely.  Put in a saucepan with the caster sugar and 1 tbsp of water.  Put it on a low heat with the lid on.  After about 5 mins, the apple will have started to soften.  Add in the chopped dates, stir and pop the lid back on for another couple of minutes.  Keep your eye on it and stir occasionally. Once most of the liquid has disappeared take it off the heat and leave to one side.

In a large bowl, add the pork, breadcrumbs, sage leaves, salt and black pepper.  Once the apple mixture has cooled slightly add this in as well.  Mix together well with your hands, making sure that the apple mix is distributed throughout and there are no dry breadcrumbs.  Put in the fridge for 30mins.

Take out the puff pastry and allow it to get up to room temperature.

When ready,  roll the pastry out using a little flour for dusting. You want to roll the pastry out in a rectangle, around 45cm long and the thickness of a £1 coin.

When the mixture is chilled bring it out of the fridge ready to lay down the middle of the pastry.  I found the easiest way of doing this was to do chunks of meat at a time and then mould with your hands to make it one long sausage.

Take a knife, and cut from each side of the sausage to the outside of the pastry in 1cm intervals.  Trim the edges and then brush either side of the pastry with the beaten egg.

Roll the strips one side over the top of the sausage meat, and then the other.  Brush again with the beaten egg.  Slice the long roll in half and then pop in the fridge for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200º.

When ready to cook, place the rolls onto a baking tray, brush with a little more egg and top with a sprinkle of black pepper.  Cook for 25-30mins until golden brown.