I’ve made beef wellington before, so I decided to try my hand using venison. This was strictly an experiment, and I know now of some things I’d do differently as a result of this first attempt. One, I’d only roast the venison tenderloin for about 10 minutes instead of the 25 minutes before assembling the wellington - you can see from the final product that the venison is cooked medium. We’d have preferred it medium rare… I’d also not saute the mushrooms in butter, or maybe not as much.
Here is the recipe I’ll follow next time:
1 venison tenderloin, cleaned of sinew, marinated in your choice of marinade overnight, roasted at 425 degrees for 10 minutes and allowed to cool
1 pound of fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
1 tsbp. butter (I used 3 first time)
1/4 cup of white wine
2 tbsp. of ketchup (may use dijon mustard next time…)
1 sheet of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, thawed
Fresh Proscuitto
1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp. water
Saute chopped mushrooms in butter until done and add the wine and ketchup or mustard. Set aside.
Place slices of proscuitto atop puff pasty sheet and spread mushroom mixture on top. Place cooled venison tenderloin on top of mushroom mixture. Roll puff pastry around tenderloin and secure seam with water if necessary. You could use any extra pastry to cut out designs - I didn’t…
Brush entire pastry with egg wash and place in 450 degree oven for 20 minutes until pastry is browned.
We enjoyed the wellington with fresh collards, long grain wild rice and a 2009 Alamos Malbac. Here are some pics of the process:
Evidently I can cook better than I can spell… It’s “Malbec.” And, it does go quite well with collards!
Harris Teeter has had some great deals on the Alamos wines from Argentina since the holidays - the Chardonnay, Cab and Malbec are all really really good. They’re usually sold for 16.99 per bottle, but HT has been selling them for 7.99 a bottle. And, you get the 5% discount if you purchase 6 bottles at a time (which I do for the week as we typically have wine with dinner…) Malbec is our favorite!
IMHO,both are lovely gals who have a unique talent, that is slowly fading away.not everyone can prepare great meals day after day after day.my mom still is,and my grandmothers were wonderful cooks.one was from the old village and could cook seafood,the other lived in the country and wild game was her specialty.
the meals that these gals prepare and show to us are incredible.
