I wanted to make a beef wellington, but with a festive, Christmas twist! I’m talking a full Christmas dinner – turkey, sprouts, pigs in blankets etc encased in pastry and then served dunked in gravy! This could have failed in a variety of ways, but actually worked a charm after pre-cooking some ingredients for my sanity, this truly was an epic Christmas dinner….in pastry and something I may try with leftovers regularly!
How to make a Turkey Wellington
Alright first up lets get all the ingredients done, make the stuffing to package instructions adding the boiling water, but do not bake it.
Cook the sprouts to package instructions, I went for the microwave but it’s up to you. Once cooked, whizz them up in a food processor with the cranberry sauce and leave to one side.
Cook the sausages fully to brown them all over in a frying pan with a little oil, really do make sure these are cooked through to be safe. Also cook the bacon, but not until crispy, just so that it is cooked but still is able to be wrapped. Place both the sausages and bacon on kitchen towel once cooked to rest.
Get the turkey steaks and place them onto a sheet of cling film, place more cling film on top and bash with a rolling pin to flatten to a consistent thickness, leave to one side.
Get some more clingfilm about the size of a baking tray and spread the stuffing all over it to cover. Using a wet spoon helps spread it here. Now add the turkey on top of the stuffing leaving a 1cm border along the edges. Add the whizzed up sprouts, covering evenly, before wrapping the sausages in bacon and placing them at one end of the ‘carpet of Christmas’. Roll up the carpet tightly, encasing the sausages and using the cling film to help keep your hands clean, keep rolling it up ensuring no cling film is going inside, outside is fine. Once you reach the end, sit it seam side down, wrap with more cling film and place in the fridge for an hour to firm up.
After an hour place one sheet of ready made puff pastry on a board, unwrap the stuffing log and place it in the centre of the pastry. Trim away any major excess but leave a good 1 inch around it. Brush this with the beaten egg yolk and place another sheet of pastry on top. Make sure it is on firmly and there are no air bubbles, join the two sheets of pastry together using the egg as a glue and crimp it together with a fork to seal it in place, make some incisions in the top if you wish with a knife or add festive designs with surplus pastry. Brush the whole thing with egg yolk, place in the fridge for 30 minutes to help firm up.
Pre-heat the oven to 180fan/200c or equivalent. Once the wellington is firmed up and the oven is warm, brush with more egg yolk and bake for an hour until golden and puffed up.
Allow to cool to room temperature before slicing into wedges and dunking in warmed gravy. Superb!