ROE VENSION WELLINGTON

Ingredients

Puff pastry

• 1kg puff pastry

• 4 square pieces from a 40cm square cabbage, central stalks removed

• 1 half loin of roe venison, about 30cm long, boned and trimmed

• a little vegetable oil

• 2 eggs, beaten

Mushrooms

• a little butter

• 1 onion, finely diced

• 1 clove garlic, crushed

• 500g mixed mushrooms

• 1 small bunch of thyme

• 1 small handful of mushrooms and half ceps, finely chopped

• a pinch of thyme leaves

Herb pancakes

• 100g plain flour

• 2 eggs

• 350ml milk

• 50g melted butter

• a pinch of salt

• 1 teaspoon chopped herbs, such as parsley and chervil

Method

This might take a bit of time, but if you can feed four people and they have a happy three course dinner in one go, it’s time well spent. The idea of wrapping the pancakes around the meat is traditional, to absorb the moisture and stop the pastry from becoming too soggy, but one of this dish’s delights is that you always seep through to the pastry, and I think that is the pleasure of this dish. Ideally, an 8 egg gamy pastry has to be one of the most divine things you can put in your mouth.

First make the pancake batter. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, add the eggs, milk, butter and whisk until smooth. Stir in the herbs and set aside to rest in the fridge.

Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle 45cm long and 30cm wide, the thickness of a £1 coin (about 3mm). Lay the pastry on a sheet of parchment paper and put into the fridge.

For the mushrooms, heat a little butter in a pan, add the onion and garlic and sweat to soften.

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.

Blanch the cabbage leaves for about a minute in boiling salted water, refresh under the cold tap, drain and pat dry.

Season the venison. Heat the vegetable oil in a roasting tin and put in the venison. Sear quickly on all sides until nicely browned all over. Remove from the pan and place on a clean tea towel to cool.

Cook the pancakes: you need four. Lightly oil a 20cm non-stick frying pan and heat it. 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 made three more, layering the pancakes between parchment paper until you are ready to use them.

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.

Lay the cabbage leaves over the top, overlapping again, and then spoon on the mushroom mixture and spread over the cabbage.

Lay the venison on top. Now you need to roll everything up as if you were making a Swiss roll. Lift up the edge of the clingfilm running parallel to 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 clingfilm to tighten, then tie them in a knot. If you don’t feel that the cylinder is tight enough, repeat again with an extra sheet of clingfilm. Put into the fridge for about an hour to firm up.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Put a baking tray in the oven to get hot.

Take out your rectangle of pastry from the fridge, lay it on your work surface and brush the middle with beaten egg. Remove the clingfilm from the wrapped venison and place it on top of the pastry, parallel to the long side. Roll up in the pastry and seal the edges. Brush the whole thing generously with more beaten egg.

Lay the wrapped venison on the hot baking tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, until golden brown. To test the meat is cooked, insert a metal skewer into the centre. It should come out warm, for medium rare meat. If you want the venison to be cooked a bit more, when you next test the skewer should be hot.