Fallowsaurus Wellington

Ingredients Fallow Wellington on the bone

  • Rack of Fallow Deer or whitetail. Ideally we want an 8 bone rack that has been French Trimmed and weighs about 3lbs or 1.2 kg
  • Carrots x 4
  • Shallots x 3
  • Butter ½ block
  • Garlic Clove x 3 crushed
  • Rosemary x 2 sprigs
  • Chestnut Mushrooms x 200g
  • Black Pepper
  • Beef Stock 1 pt or 500mls
  • ½ Bottle Red Wine
  • Damson Jam
  • Smoked Pancetta
  • Hispi / Spring Cabbage
  • Eggs x2
  • Ready made pancakes x6
  • Rolls of Premade puff pastry x2

Method

Step 1 – Veg Prep

  1. Peel the carrots.
  2. Peel Shallots then finely chop.
  3. Finely chop the chestnut mushrooms.

Step 2 – Pan Fry Venison

  1. Melt butter in a frying pan, adding 3 cloves of crushed garlic and rosemary.
  2. Season fallow rack with black pepper and salt.
  3. Pan seer the fallow rack hot and fast to add colour (otherwise becomes insipid)

Step 3 – Wrap the Rack

  1. After searing the rack stand the venison rack with the bones pointing up.
  2. Wrap the rack in cling film a couple of times (piercing the bones through)
    • Important: Making sure the final wrap is extra tight.
  3. Place the cling wrapped rack into the fridge for 10 minutes making sure it is standing with the bones pointing up (Allowing the rack to set in position).

Step 4 – Wellington Filling

  1. Fry the shallots in butter in the same pan used for searing the rack.
  2. Adding the mushrooms
  3. Reduce the beef stock in a saucepan on the stove by ¾
  4. Take the fried shallots and mushrooms off the stove and remove the oil by dabbing them with a paper towel.
  5. Run through the mushrooms to chop them extra fine.
  6. Putting them into the freezer to set.

Step 5 – The Gravy

  1. Reduce down ½ bottle of red wine by a third in the rack seared pan (lifts the flavour off the pan).
  2. Add the wine and beef stock together and continue reducing both together.
  3. Add a knob of butter and some damson jam.

Step 6 – Pastry Wrap The Rack

  1. Take the rack out of the fridge (IMPORTANT keeping it up right with bones up to retain the shape).
  2. Lay out pancetta onto a sheet of cling film.
  3. Putting a base of fried chopped mushrooms and shallot filling onto the pancetta.
  4. Then sit the rack on top of the filling.
  5. Laying more filling on the side of the rack.
  6. Then begin to wrap the pancetta to keep the filling in place.
  7. Remove the cling film and use extra pancetta to close up the top of the rack.
  8. Place the ready made pancakes over the pancetta as a insulation and cut of the excess pancakes.
  9. Lay out the sheet of pastry and wrap the rack, full enclosing the rack and pierce the rack bones through the pastry.
    • A good base= strong seal for cooking.
  10. Brush an whisked egg onto pastry edges as the adhesive to stick the pastry together.
  11. Cut off the end nips to remove big gobs of excess pastry.
  12. Put the rack pasty onto a baking tray with baking paper, egg washing the entire pastry.
  13. Then put the rack into the oven for 40 minutes at 200c

Step 7 – Cooking Veg

  1. Cut Hispi Cabbage into quarters and slow cook in a frying pan with water and butter. For 15 minutes
  2. Cooked the peeled carrots in a pan of hot water over the stove for 12 minutes.
  3. After cooking both, drain well and season with salt, pepper and knobs of butter

Step 8 – Serve

  1. Remove the rack from the oven and allow to stand for a few minutes.
  2. Cut the wellington in between the bones.
  3. Serve with cabbage, carrots and Damson gravy.
  4. Enjoy this truly impressive centre piece with friends.