An autumn recipe from Head Chef Ducie: Venison Wellington

Check out this season’s recipe which focuses on local wild vension sourced from the outskirts of Oxford. Venison is high in protein, zinc, B vitamins and Omega 3 as well as being very low in calories and fat.

Venison Wellington

Ingredients

Venison

• 100 g caramelised red onions
• 500 g loin of venison, cleaned with sinew removed
• 400 g puff pastry
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp milk
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Pancakes

• 150 g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 140 ml of milk
• oil

Mushroom Duxelles

• 250 g button mushrooms
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 100 ml white wine
• 4 tbsp double cream
• butter
• salt
• pepper

Method

1. Sear the venison. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, season the loin with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Turn every 1-2 minutes to colour the loin on all sides, until it is evenly browned and rare in the centre. Remove from the pan and refrigerate.
2. For the duxelles, melt the butter in the same pan, add the chopped mushrooms and sauté until golden brown. Remove from the pan and keep to one side.
3. Add the shallots and chopped garlic to the pan. Cook until soft, then add the mushrooms again and cook quickly until the liquid evaporates. Add the white wine and boil until reduced by half.
4. Add the cream and cook until the mixture is thick and beginning to darken. Season with salt and pepper and leave to one side.
5. For the pancakes, whisk together the flour, eggs and milk to make a smooth batter.
6. Heat a frying pan and add a splash of oil. Once the oil is hot, pour in a small amount of batter to cover the base in a very thin layer and cook until golden on the underside.
7. Flip the pancake over and cook the other side. Repeat the process again until all of the mixture is used up, keeping the cooked pancakes to one side.
8. Lay a sheet of cling film on a board and lay 3 pancakes onto it, overlapping so that they cover the cling film. Lay the Parma ham on top in a single layer.
9. Spread the mushroom duxelles over the Parma ham in another even layer, add a thin layer of the caramelised red onions also and place the venison on top. Roll the pancakes, Parma ham and mushroom mix around the venison, using the cling film to wrap it tightly. Leave to cool in the fridge, for a couple of hours.
10. Roll out the puff pastry into a thin sheet around ¼ cm thick — if it is pre-rolled it will need to be rolled thinner.
11. Remove the Wellington from the cling film, lay on top of the pastry and brush the pastry with egg wash. Roll the Wellington in the pastry, sealing the joining edge with extra egg wash.
12. Roll the Wellington so the seal is on the underside and set aside.
13. Preheat the oven to 185°C.
14. Place the Wellington into the oven for 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. You are looking for an internal temperature of about 50°C-52°C.
15. Remove the Wellington from the oven, rest for at least 14 minutes in a warm place. Slice and serve up onto a plate.
16. Serve with redcurrant and red wine jus and black cabbage tossed in Cotswold gold rapeseed oil and rock salt.

And to drink?

Senior Common Room Butler Magda Adamska recommends matching the delicate flavour of this venison dish with a mature red Burgundy.

I would choose a wine from a very specific part of the region called the Côte-d’Or, where you can find the most famous and prestigious villages like Gevrey-Chambertin AOC or Nuits-Saint-Georges AOC. Both villages have vineyards which produce Premier Cru and Grand Cru wines, the most complex and intense of Burgundy. With age this wine can offer concentrated strawberries and red cherries flavour, oak barrel aromas of smoke and cloves and evolve pronounced flavours of truffle and dried herbs, forest floor and mushrooms which will complement venison very well.