Venison Wellington recipe

Details

• Cuisine: British
• Recipe Type: Venison
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation Time: 35 mins
• Cooking Time: 65 mins
• Serves: 8

Step-by-step

1. Season the venison well with salt and black pepper. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan on high heat and sear the meat on all sides. Place on cooling rack and leave to cool for 3–4 hours. The meat will drip as it cools, the longer you can leave it, the better chance you have of avoiding a soggy bottom in your finished Wellington. Place a couple of sheets of kitchen roll or a plate under the cooling rack to catch the drips.
2. Cook the porcini mushrooms in a bowl of boiling water for 8–10 minutes, drain and leave to cool.
3. Finely chop the shallots, garlic and chestnut mushrooms. Heat the butter in a saucepan and fry the shallots on a medium heat until they start to turn golden.  Add the chestnut mushrooms and garlic and when the mushrooms begin to soften. Add the dried thyme leaves or fresh thyme leaves. Once the porcini mushrooms have cooled, chop finely and add to the mix.
4. Once the venison has cooled and excess moisture wiped off (use a piece of kitchen roll to dab over the meat), place a layer of cling film (plastic wrap), around 40cm/16inch long, on a flat kitchen surface.
5. Place the Parma Ham slices along the middle of the cling film lengthways, with the slices overlapping and covering an area that will roughly wrap around the venison when rolled up. Once the Parma Ham is laid out, place the venison down the centre on top of it.
6. Spread the chicken liver pâté over the top and sides of the venison and layer the mushroom mix on top, pressing firmly to stick to the pâté if possible.
7. Once the venison is topped with pâté and the mushroom mix, pull the end of the cling film together to wrap the Parma Ham into a casing around the Wellington. If the Parma Ham slices don’t quite reach each other on top, use another slice or two to cover the gap. If you are preparing your Wellington in advance, you can use keep the venison parcel in cling film in the fridge and remove an hour before cooking, alongside the puff pastry.
8. Heat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
9. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking tray and place a sheet of puff pastry on top. Brush the edges of the pastry with a beaten egg and then remove the Parma Ham-wrapped venison from the cling film and place down the centre. Carefully layer the other sheet of pastry over the top of the venison, matching up the pastry if you can (you will likely need to trim the bottom sheet to match them better, and any excess can be used to make decorative additions to the top sheet, such as leaves and berries). Brush the pastry all over with the remaining beaten egg.
10.  Pop the Wellington in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, turning after 15–20 minutes to ensure it cooks evenly. Serve when cooked through.

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