Venison Wellington Recipe from top chef at Corrour Lodge

Corrour Lodge, in the Scottish Highlands, offers it’s guests a rare treat for all our senses.  The beauty and the remoteness of it’s situation allows us time to reflect on our busy lives and gives us an opportunity to connect with nature and the vibrancy of our wonderfully diverse seasons that we experience in the UK.  The lodge sleeps up to 14 adults in luxurious ensuite bedrooms with fabulous views across Loch Ossian.  There is also a bunk room with 14 beds, designed as a pirate ship, for children.

David Taylor, the lodge’s excellent chef, provides top class food for all the guests.  He prides himself on using locally sourced food including venison from the Estate.  As guests are unable to stay at Corrour Lodge at the moment and enjoy his culinary masterpieces, he has kindly agreed to share one of his favourite seasonal recipes with us for Venison Wellington.

Makes 4

Ingredients

• 1kg Puff Pastry
• 4 Large Outer Leaves from a Savoy Cabbage, central stalks removed
• 1 half boneless and trimmed Venison Striploin
• A little vegetable oil
• 2 Eggs,beaten
• Mushrooms
• A little butter
• 1 Onion, finely diced
• 1 Clove Garlic
• 500g Button Mushrooms(or half button mushrooms, half ceps) finely chopped
• A good pinch of thyme leaves
• Herb Pancakes
• 100g Plain Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 350ml Whole Milk
• 50g Melted Butter
• A pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon chopped herbs, such as parsley, chives and chervil

Directions

1. 1. First make the pancake batter. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, add the eggs, milk, butter and salt and whisk until smooth. Stir in the herbs and set aside to rest in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
   2. Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle approx 45cm long and 30cm wide. The pastry should be about 3mm in thickness. Lay the pastry on a sheet of parchment paper and pop into the fridge.
   3. For the mushrooms, heat a little butter in a pan, add the onion and garlic and sweat to soften.
   4. Add the mushrooms and thyme and cook for about 10-15 minutes, until all the juices have evaporated and the mixture is dry. Season and leave to cool.
   5. Blanch the cabbage leaves for about a minute in boiling salted water, refresh under the cold tap, drain and pat dry.
   6. Season the venison in a hot pan (with some garlic and rosemary if you like). Sear quickly on all sides until nicely browned all over. Remove from the pan and place on a clean towel to cool.
   7. Cook the pancakes, you will need a minimum of four. Lightly oil a 20cm non-stick frying panand heat until very hot. Pour in a small ladleful of batter and rotate the pan so that it covers the whole surface. When it is golden underneath, flip over. Lift out and lay on a piece of parchment paper. Continue until you have used up all the batter, layering the pancakes between parchment paper until you are ready to use them.
   8. To assemble, lay a piece of clingfilm twice the size of the pastry on your work surface. Lay the pancakes on top, slightly overlapping so that there are no gaps.
   9. Lay the cabbage leaves over the top, overlapping again. Spoon on the mushroom mixture and spread over the cabbage.
   10. Now lay the venison on top. You now need to roll everything up as though you were making a swiss roll. Lift up the edge of the clingfilm running parallel with the venison, and roll the pancakes with their cabbage lining over the top. Tuck in, and then use the clingfilm to help you continue to roll up tightly so that you have a long cylinder. Twist the ends of the cling film to tighten, then tie them in a knot if you can. If you don’t feel that the cylinder is tight enough, repeat again with an extra sheet of clingfilm. Put into the fridge for a minimum of one hour or overnight to firm up.
   11. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Put a baking tray in the oven to get hot.
   12. Take out your rectangle of puff pastry from the fridge, lay it on your work surface and brush the uppermost side with beaten egg. Remove the clingfilm from the wrapped venison and place on top of the pastry , parallel to the long side. Roll up in the pastry and seal the edges. Brush the whole Wellington generously with more beaten egg.
   13. Lay the Wellington on to the hotbaking tray and bake in the oven for approx 30 minutes until golden brown. I usually then test with a thermometer before taking out the oven and look for an internal temp of 52°C.
   14. To serve cut through with a very sharp knife and serve with a dollop of lingonberry compote.

We hope you enjoy this recipe, we would love to know what you think so please email us at info@ltrcastles.com.

At Loyd & Townsend Rose, we help our clients organize luxury vacations to the UK. We feature grand and opulent accommodation, including historic castles and magnificent, quintessentially British stately homes for an unforgettable stay.