Festive Mushroom Wellington & Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Are you cooking up a storm this festive season?

With Christmas and NYE just around the corner, I am sure you will also have lots of family around as the festive season always brings everyone together enjoying a glass of wine, while having conversation over great food.

Cook up something different and exciting this year with these fantastic recipes provided by the South African Mushroom Farmer’s Association that not only pairs fantastically with a glass of bubbly, wine or a local gin, it’s also something new that everyone in the family will love.

• Festive Mushroom Wellington & Cranberry Sauce
• Baby Button Stuffed Red Peppers with Wild Rice, Dried Cranberries & Toasted Pecans
• Savoury Mushroom Loaded Crêpes

Festive Mushroom Wellington & Cranberry Sauce

Serves 8

Ingredients:

Mushroom filling:

• 2 large brown onions, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 750g mixed cultivated mushrooms
• 4 sprigs of rosemary, leaves finely diced
• 1 cup pecan nuts or walnuts, lightly toasted & roughly chopped
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• 8 large portobello mushrooms
• 2 x 250g all butter flat puff pastry sheets
• Flour, for dusting
• 1 large egg, whisked with a splash of water
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Cranberry sauce:

• 360g frozen cranberries
• 150g / ¾ cup sugar
• 125ml / ½ cup water
• 30ml / 2 Tbsp orange juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Pinch of salt

Method:

For the cranberry sauce:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries are broken down and a jam-like consistency.
4. Switch off the heat until serving.

For the wellington:

1. Preheat oven to 220˚C.
2. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the onions until tender and lightly golden. Just before the onions are done add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
3. Transfer into a bowl to cool.
4. Place the mushrooms in a food processor and blitz into small chunky pieces.
5. You want a little texture to the filling.
6. Working in batches, sauté the mushrooms, adding olive oil when necessary.
7. Cook until they have released all their moisture and are “dry.”
8. Add to the bowl with the onions. Allow to cool.
9. Fold in the rosemary, pecan nuts and breadcrumbs. Season and mix well.
10. Place the large portabello mushrooms on a wire rack on top of a baking tray.
11. Bake for 7 minutes until tender.
12. Allow the mushrooms to cool completely and keep them on the rack until cool as they will continue to release moisture.
13. Roll out the puff pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface.
14. (You can also join the two sheets to make one large wellington but the smaller wellingtons are easier to move around as the mushroom filling is more fragile than a normal wellington)
15. Scoop a quarter of the filling onto each sheet of pastry.
16. Top with 4 whole portabellos per sheet. Keep them neatly and closely packed together.
17. Divide the remaining filling over the mushrooms to enclose the portabellos.
18. Working quickly, fold up the pastry sheets around the mushrooms into logs, stretching and tucking as you go. Brush the seams with egg wash to seal. Trim off any excess pastry.
19. Place the wellingtons onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, seam side down.
20. Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes until the pastry is firm and cool.
21. Preheat oven to 200˚C.
22. Remove the wellingtons from the fridge and score the pastry with a sharp paring knife.
23. Create a pretty pattern by gently scoring the puff pastry but not going all the way through.
24. Brush all over with the egg wash.
25. Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes until deeply golden brown and the pastry is cooked through.
26. Remove and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
27. Reheat the cranberry sauce.
28. Slice the wellingtons and serve with a generous dollop of cranberry sauce on the side.