Pork Wellington has been on my list of things to blog for awhile now, waiting for a special time to make it. My husband just had a business trip that was crazy busy and when he comes back from these trips I like to treat him to a special meal. Understandably he gets tired of restaurant food and eating on the run.
The meal had to wait a day as we had tickets to go see Heart. Those two ladies at 65 and 69 years of age can seriously rock. Leaping about and belting out the songs, it was amazing. I would love to have that energy!
This is a time consuming but not difficult meal to make. You can save time by buying puff pastry but making the rough puff pastry is relatively simple and tastes a lot better than store bought pastry.
Technique for Rough Puff Pastry
The main key for a good rough puff pastry is keeping everything cold. Some people will grate frozen butter for this but you can get away with butter from the fridge.
Add the ingredients to a mixing bowl. Work the butter into the flour until you have a coarse mixture.
Add a bit of water at a time until the clumps come together in a rough ball. Cover and chill for at least 20 minutes. If you find that you add too much water, don’t panic you can fix it when you knead the dough.
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. If you made the dough too wet add extra flour while you are kneading the dough. You don’t want to overwork the dough but you want a smooth ball where you see marbling of the butter. Roll out thinly into something close to a rectangle.
Fold into thirds like an envelope.
Rotate 90 degrees and roll out into a thin rectangle.
Fold into thirds again.
Cover and chill for at least 20 minutes and until you are ready to use it.
Technique for Pork Wellington
Melt butter in the skillet. Season the pork with sea salt and pepper. Sear all sides and cook it to about two thirds done. This is probably the trickiest part as you need the pork to be cooked through by the end of baking but you don’t want it dried out. It’s not like the beef wellington where you want it medium rare.
Remove from the skillet and set aside while you cook up the apple mixture.
Finely chop up the apple, mushrooms, garlic and sage. Add additional butter to the skillet and sauté the ingredients for several minutes until the mushrooms start to brown.
Deglaze with the calvados and cook until the liquid reduces to nearly zero. Remove from the heat.
On cling film lay out the prosciutto and spoon the mushroom mixture onto the prosciutto and spread it out. Coat the pork with the mustard and place the pork in the centre.
Tightly wrap the pork and chill for half an hour. After the half hour roll out the dough, remove the cling film and place the pork in the centre of the dough.
Trim the ends and wrap the pork like a burrito. Place seam down on a baking sheet and brush with a beaten egg.
Bake in an oven set at 425F/220C until the pastry is golden and flaky. About 30-35 minutes.
Let rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. Though if it is really flaky, the darn thing will fall apart as you slice.
I roasted up a bit of parsnip and made up a side salad to keep the meal light.
This Pork Wellington was well worth the effort and the flavours were even better the next day.
Pork Wellington
A twist on the traditional beef wellington.
Ingredients
Rough Puff Pastry
- 150 grams strong flour
- 150 grams cold butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 60 ml cold water (up to 60 ml)
Pork and Apple Mushroom mixture
- 1 lb pork loin
- 1 cup finely chopped shiitake mushrooms
- 1 cup finely chopped apple
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 3-4 leaves sage, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup calvados 2oz
- 4-5 tbsp butter
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- 6-8 slices thin prosciutto
- 1 tbsp stone ground mustard
Instructions
Rough Puff Pastry
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Sift the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut up the cold butter and add it to the flour. Using your fingers, incorporate the butter into the flour until you have a coarse mixture. Add a bit of water at a time until the dough comes together in a ball. It will be coarse and sticky. But you don't want it overly wet. Cover and chill for 20 minutes.
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On a floured surface, knead the dough until it is a smooth dough where you can see a marbling of the butter. Don't overwork the dough.
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Roll out thinly into a rough rectangle. Fold into thirds in an envelope. Rotate 90 degrees and roll out again into rectangle. Fold again into thirds. Cover and chill for at least 20 minutes or until you need it to wrap the pork later.
Pork Wellington
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Heat half the butter in a skillet. Season the pork with sea salt and pepper. Sear all sides of the pork. Cook it about 2/3 thirds of the way. When it's done baking at the end you want the pork to be cooked thoroughly but not dry. Remove from the heat and set aside.
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Add more butter to the skillet. Add the mushrooms, apples, sage and garlic. Sauté for several minutes until the mushrooms begin to brown. Pour in the calvados to deglaze the pan. Cook until the liquid is reduced to nearly zero.
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On a piece of cling film lay out the prosciutto. Spoon the mushroom and apple mixture onto the prosciutto and spread it out. Coat the pork with the mustard and place the pork in the centre of the apple and mushroom mixture. Tightly wrap the pork in the prosciutto and seal with the cling film. Chill for 30 minutes.
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Roll out the pastry thinly. Place the pork into the centre. Trim the sides and wrap the pork like a burrito. Place on a baking sheet and chill for 30 minutes.
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Preheat the oven to 425F/220C.
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Brush the pastry with a beaten egg. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is golden and flaky. Let rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
