I have wanted to create a venison Wellington since I started cooking with deer meat. It looked like such an elegant dish. What has always kept me from trying it, is that I thought it was a difficult recipe with a lot of different steps. When I finally took the time to try out the recipe, I realized how easy it was. There were quite a few steps but it wasn’t near as hard as I thought it would be. It wasn’t perfect for my first one, but it sure tasted good!
If you’ve never heard of a Wellington, it is typically done with beef and is essentially a chunk of meat that is surrounded with a mushroom mixture and rolled in a pastry. What you end up with is a super luscious and tender piece of meat wrapped in a buttery crust. Here’s how it goes!
Ingredients:
- Venison backstrap or tenderloin (I only used a ½ of one backstrap per puff pastry)
- Large pack of fresh sliced mushrooms
- 1 onion
- Puff pastry
- Butter
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Salt and pepper
- 1 egg
PREHEAT OVEN TO 450 DEGREES
- The filling. The first step is the mushroom filling. Finely chop mushrooms and onion (a food processor is wonderful for this.) Throw into a pan with a spoonful of butter, some salt, and pepper. You want to slowly cook out all the moisture in the mixture. Set aside to cool.
- Using the same pan, you want to sear the venison. On medium-high, heat the pan with a little more butter. Season meat well with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Sear on each side until it’s nice and brown with some crusty edges. You’re not cooking it through, remember. Set aside to cool.
- Once your mixture and meat has cooled, roll out your puff pastry (keeping it refrigerated until you use it to make for easier handling.) Pour mushroom mixture out on the puff pastry – keeping a one inch boarder to keep in from falling out. You will lay the meat on top of the puff pastry and roll the pastry as tight as you can without squeezing mixture out or punching whole into the pastry.
* IMPORTANT TIP… if your pastry is too long and overlaps, you’re going to want to cut that off. Overlapping will cause the inside pastry to not cook through. You can always use the excess for more wellington or just cook to snack on!
- Next, pinch the ends together to seal the wellington. Whisk an egg and brush all over the pastry. This creates a golden crust.
- Bake at 450 degrees for 40-45 minutes for a perfect medium.
- Let cool 5-10 minutes before slicing.
The Lady and The Hunter 