Velly Welly

Serves Cakes, Bread and Pastries

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Method

For the pancakes, warm the milk in a pan. Add the mushrooms and leave for 10 minutes, then strain the milk into a bowl or jug, reserving the mushrooms.

Put the flour in a mixing bowl and whisk in the egg, then whisk in the infused milk to make a smooth batter. Transfer to the fridge to rest for 15 minutes – but not longer as the porcini milk can thicken too much.

Just before you are ready to cook the pancakes, add the black garlic and some salt and pepper to taste.

To cook the pancakes, heat the olive oil in a non-stick, approx. 24cm frying pan or crêpe pan, and ladle some of the batter into the pan, tilting it to move the mixture around to make a thin, even layer. Cook the pancake for 1 minute on each side until golden brown. Carefully remove from the pan and set aside, then repeat to use up all the batter – you will need 4-5 pancakes.

For the filling, preheat the oven to 200C/180C F/Gas 6. Season the venison with salt. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the venison on all sides until browned all over. Transfer to a roasting tin and cook for 5 minutes in the hot oven – give it another 3 minutes if you prefer the meat medium. Season with pepper and leave to cool.

For the stuffing, finely chop the reserved porcini mushrooms. Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the spinach, mushrooms and garlic and cook briefly until the spinach has wilted, then leave to cool.

To assemble, roll the rough puff pastry on a floured surface into a rectangle large enough to enclose the venison and approx. 2mm thick. Put it on a piece of baking paper, then cut the porcini pancakes to size – they need to be large enough when placed side by side to wrap the venison. Lay the trimmed pancakes next to each other, slightly overlapping, on top of the pastry.

Spread the spinach over the pancakes, then put the venison on top and fold the pancakes and pastry over to enclose the venison. Use wet fingers to seal the pastry edges together, trim and brush with some of the beaten egg. Transfer to the fridge and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes or until you are ready to cook.

Preheat the oven to 220C/ 200C F/Gas 7. Lightly score the pastry parcel with diagonal lines and brush with more beaten egg. Lightly oil a baking tray and place in the oven to get hot.

Put the Wellington on the hot tray and bake for 30 minutes for medium-rare. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5 minutes before slicing, then serve with wholegrain mustard.

Rough puff pastry

Sift the flour into a bowl and add a pinch of salt and the butter. Mix the lemon juice with 150ml ice-cold water, then add three-quarters of this to the flour mixture. Stir briefly until everything comes together into a rough, shaggy dough. Add the remaining water if necessary.

Turn the dough out on to a floured work surface and press out into a square, then roll out into a long rectangle approx. 8mm thick. Don’t turn the pastry as you roll it but be sure to lift it and flour underneath it if it begins to stick.

With the short edge of the pastry closest to you, fold the bottom third up and the top third over that, folding like a business letter. Working quickly, so the fat doesn’t warm up too much, give it a quarter turn and
roll out again. Fold in thirds again, wrap in reusable wrap and rest in the fridge for around 20 minutes.

Repeat the rolling, folding and chilling process twice more, chilling for 20 minutes between each roll and fold, then wrap again and chill for 30 minutes before use.

It will keep in the fridge in an airtight container or wrap for up to a day and also freezes well.