Wild mushroom, port & thyme turkey wellington
If you’re after something totally stress-free to cook, it has to be this wellington. The assembly can be done a day or two in advance, leaving you nothing more to do on the day than bake it in the oven.
QServes 6
QPrep 50 mins plus soaking, chilling and resting
30g dried porcini mushrooms,
rehydrated in 600ml kettle-hot water 50g butter
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped small bunch of thyme, chopped
225g chestnut mushrooms, sliced 200ml port
1 chicken stock cube
1½kg boneless, skinless turkey breast small bunch of parsley, chopped 1 lemon, zested
3 tbsp finely grated parmesan plain flour, for dusting
500g puff pastry
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 Drain the mushrooms, reserving the liquid. Heat half the butter in a pan, and fry the onions for 7-8 mins until golden. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for a few minutes more. Add the remaining butter, rehydrated mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms. Turn up the heat and sizzle for 5 mins until the mushrooms are golden. Pour in the port and simmer until you have a sticky glaze. Add the mushroom soaking liquid and crumble in the stock cube, then boil rapidly for about 5 mins. Drain through a sieve into a bowl and leave to cool. Reserve and chill the liquid to use later for gravy.
2 When the mushrooms are cool, butterfly the turkey breast by cutting into one side of it
QCook 1 hr 30 mins
so you can open it out like a book. Cover the meat and use a meat mallet or rolling pin to bash it into a rectangle about 3cm thick, and a little smaller than A4 paper. Trim the edges and top to neaten, reserving the trimmings. Pulse the turkey trimmings, mushroom mix, parsley, lemon zest and parmesan in a food processor to a rough stuffing. Season well and form into a long sausage. Lay along the long edge of the turkey breast. Roll the turkey to encase the stuffing, and set aside.
3 On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry out into a rectangle about 10cm wider and longer than the turkey was when it was bashed out. Trim, reserving the trimmings. Lightly brush the pastry all over with the egg yolk. Lay the turkey in the middle and fold the shorter edges of the pastry over. Roll up to encase. If you like, re-roll the trimmings and cut into Christmas shapes to decorate. Glaze with more egg yolk, then put on a baking tray, seam-side down. Chill for at least 30 mins, or up to two days.
4 Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 with a tray inside. Glaze the wellington again and season with sea salt. Carefully transfer to the hot tray and bake for 1 hr 15 mins until golden and crisp. Meanwhile, simmer the reserved mushroom liquid until reduced to a sticky gravy. Leave the wellington to rest, then serve in thick slices with the gravy.
PER SERVING 794 kcals, fat 34g, saturates 17g,
carbs 38g, sugars 8g, fibre 5g, protein 72g, salt 1.8g