For the turkey Wellington:
500g mushrooms
2 shallots, peeled
30g butter
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbsp white wine
1⁄2 tsp thyme
8 turkey breast escalopes or 800g turkey breasts
40g dried cranberries
3 tbsp sunflower oil
500g puff pastry
12 slices Parma ham
1 egg, beaten
For the gravy:
50g butter
60g onion, finely
chopped
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp red wine vinegar 400ml red wine 300ml chicken stock
2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp cream
For the cranberry jam:
250g frozen cranberries
100ml Port wine 100g sugar
Serves 4 • Prep 1h • Oven 30’
Start by preparing the mushroom duxelle. Finely chop the mushrooms and the shallots.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan and fry the chopped shallots for a couple of minutes. Add the crushed garlic and fry for another minute.
Add the chopped mushrooms, the wine and the thyme and cook over a high heat until the liquid released by the mushrooms has been absorbed. Season with salt and pepper, transfer onto a plate and set aside until later.
Prepare the meat. If using turkey escalopes: place two escalopes over each other, distribute the dried cranberries over them and top with two more escalopes. Repeat with the remaining escalopes.
If using entire turkey breasts: slice the turkey breasts lengthwise so that you get a pocket, and stuff the dried cranberries into it.
Tie the meat with a string so that no cranberries fall out when frying. Season the meat with salt and pepper.
Heat the sunflower oil in the frying pan and brown the meat all over. Once browned, put onto a plate and leave to cool. Don’t wash the frying pan, set aside until later.
Once the meat is cool, preheat the oven to 200°C and assemble the two Wellingtons.
Roll out the puff pastry and cut into 4 equal parts. Top two parts with half of the Parma ham slices, leaving a 2cm frame around the edges. Top with two thirds of the mushroom duxelle.
Cut the string off the browned turkey and place each piece of meat onto the mushroom duxelle. Top the meat with the remaining mushroom duxelle and cover with the remaining Parma ham slices.
Brush the bare pastry edges with beaten egg. Lift the remaining two pastry rectangles over each piece of meat and press to seal the edges. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and cut a criss-cross pattern into the pastry. Put onto a tray with baking paper.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the gravy and cranberry sauce.
For the gravy: Melt 20g butter in the frying pan used to browning the meat. Fry the finely chopped onion for a couple of minutes, then add the honey and fry for another minute until golden brown. Add the red wine vinegar and wine and bring to a boil. Reduce the liquid by half, then add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.
Melt the remaining 30g butter and mix with the cornflour. Pour into the sauce, add the cream, bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes until thickened. Strain the sauce through a sieve, season with salt and pepper and put into a gravy boat.
For the cranberry sauce: put the frozen cranberries, the Port and the sugar into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed and the mix resembles a sticky jam. Transfer into a little serving bowl.
Once the Wellingtons are cooked, cut into thick slices and serve with gravy and cranberry sauce on the side.
First test run with the Turkey Wellington (what a delicious sauce!) with Dauphinoise Potatoes followed by the Cherry Apple Crumble with Marzipan. All thumbs up!
Tip: Ask your butcher to slice the turkey as “poche de dinde”, makes it easier to stuff it with the cranberries.
Great tip Roland! And glad you enjoyed this feast!