VENISON WELLINGTON
A variation on the classic Beef wellington, if executed well the wellington is a thing of shear beauty, perfectly cooked meat with crisp pastry........ it will take time, and it's certainly worth taking the time to do the wellington well, I use pancakes to wrap around the meat, some do some don't, it's just a good way of soaking up some of the meat juices so that the pastry doesn't become too soggy
This recipe will serve 4 people
SHOPPING LIST
1kg of ready made ready rolled puff pastry
500g of trimmed loin of venison
4 large outer leaves of a Savoy cabbage
FOR THE MUSHROOM MIX
1 small shallot finely chopped
2 crushed cloves of garlic
500g of finely chopped chestnut mushroom
A good pinch of fresh thyme leaves
FOR THE PANCAKES
100g of plain flour
2 eggs
350ml of milk
50g of melted butter
A good pinch of salt
A good handful of fresh chopped parsley and chervil
Preheat the oven to 200c and place a baking tray in the oven to get hot
METHOD
1. Make the pancakes, sift the flour into a bowl and whisk in the salt, eggs, butter and milk until nice and smooth, stir in the chopped herbs
2. Lay a piece of grease proof paper onto a baking tray and roll on the puff pastry, place in the fridge
3. In a pan fry of the shallot and garlic without colour, add the mushroom and thyme and cook until all of the moisture has evaporated, season well
4. Now blanch the cabbage leaves in boiling salted water for 30 seconds and cool immediately, drain and pat dry with kitchen towel
5. Heat a splash of oil in a frying pan, season the venison and seal quickly on all sides, remove from the pan and allow to cool
6. Wipe out the frying pan and cook 4 pancakes in a little butter, lay Between grease proof paper
7. Now lay out a piece of cling wrap twice the size of the pastry, lay the pancakes on top, overlapping slightly, now lay the cabbage leaves onto the pancakes, again overlapping slightly
8. Now spread the mushroom mixture over the cabbage leaves
9. Carefully lay the venison on top, now very carefully roll up everything into a Swiss roll shape, this needs to be done fairly quickly, and tightly, then place in the fridge to firm up
10. Now take the tray with the pastry on out of the fridge, brush around the edges with beaten egg, carefully and quickly remove the venison roll from the cling wrap and place onto the pastry
11. Wrap your venison in the pastry, and seal the ends and edge
12. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and place on the hot baking tray and cook in the oven for 20 minutes, the pastry will be golden brown, the meat beautifully pink, allow 5 minutes to rest before slicing
Serve with more buttered Savoy cabbage and a red wine sauce