8 minute read
Recipes
Well, you made it. The last Quality Street has been eaten, and now comes the bit where you take out a year’s gym membership and swear you’ll never drink again. Let’s be honest, three weeks is as much sobriety as anyone can reasonably be asked to endure and, as luck would have it, that lines up perfectly with Burns Night on the 25th of January. Why not reward your astonishing powers of denial and toast the bard with a dram or two of Wales’ own Penderyn Whisky? You can even book a tour at their distillery in Llandudno…
Food for thought
If you want to make it a truly special night, you can make this amazing venison main course. The best part is that you do all the hard stuff the day before and just slam it in the oven once your friends arrive. Happy New Year, and Slàinte Mhath!
VENISON WELLINGTON
(Serves 6)
Ingredients
1 venison loin, trimmed of all its fat (I bought mine from the fine folk at Poynton’s Butchers in Llandudno) Freshly ground black pepper Sea salt 2 tbsp olive oil English mustard 12 slices of Parma Ham 500g pack of puff pastry Plain Flour for dusting 3 egg yolks, beaten
For the Mushroom duxelle 500g Chestnut mushrooms, chopped as small as possible 2 shallots, peeled and chopped 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
You’re going to need a bigger pan!
Heat a little oil in the biggest, widest frying pan you have. Season the venison with plenty of salt and pepper, then sear it in the pan. You’ll need to do this in two halves unless you have a pan the size of a dustbin lid! Once you’ve seared the loin all over, set it to one side to cool. Once it’s cooled, brush the top with English mustard and leave it somewhere cold.
In the same pan, fry the chopped shallots until they are golden. Then add the garlic, then the mushroom and thyme. Fry for about ten minutes until most of the liquid has reduced away. Turn off the heat.
This is the tricky but fun part. Stretch cling film across your kitchen table. Then lay six slices
of the Parma ham on top of it, gently overlapping each other. Then lay the other six just over the bottom of the others so that you have a rectangle of ham on the table wide and long enough to wrap around the venison loin.
Spread the cooled mushroom duxelle mix evenly over the Parma ham. Place the venison loin on top, in the middle, and lift the edges of the cling film to wrap the ham around the venison. Twist
the edges so it looks like a wrapped sweet, then put it in the fridge for half an hour.
While that’s happening, get out your plain flour, your biggest board and a rolling pin. Roll the
puff pastry so that it’s wide and long enough to envelop the loin. Take that out of the fridge, placing it onto the pastry and removing the cling film.
Now, wrap it in the pastry, sealing it with the beaten egg. Brush the whole thing with more egg. If you have any fancy pastry cutters you can get decorating now but that’s up to you. Put it, covered, back in the fridge and leave overnight. Your work for the day is done.
On the day, preheat the oven to 200˚C FAN and take the
Wellington out of the fridge for half an hour or so. Put it in the oven for 30 minutes. I did 27 minutes and it was, I’d say, medium rare. If you want it more, do 35 minutes, max.
Let it rest for 20 minutes, then carve at the table. Cai Ross is co-owner and Maitre d’ of the award-winning Paysanne Bistro in Deganwy, which has been serving French country-style food to the fine people of North Wales since 1988. He also writes for Calibre Magazine, BBC Good Food, HeyUGuys.com and The North Wales Weekly News
Don’t fancy cooking?
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