Possibly the Best Mushroom Wellington in the World. Ever.

......In which, we were disappointed with the recipes we found online so invented our own, based closely on the construction of the meat dish, but with non- meat ingredients.

In a Beef Wellington a fillet of beef is coated in pate and duxelles (a mixture of chopped mushrooms and shallots or onions) and then wrapped in a pancake  which serves to soak up any liquid that escapes from the filling. Around the crepes is rolled a layer of pastry and the whole concoction is then cooked in the oven.

As most of the mushroom wellington recipes we found were slightly disappointing, (having more in common with a Greggs mushroom slice than an xmas centrepiece), we invented our own.

The Beef Wellington is a dish for engineers, comprising several distinct layers, each with its own texture and flavours: This is what we were aiming for with the Mushroom version, and without blowing my trumpet too loudly (paaaarp), it was UM.AZE.ING.

The ingredients for Mushroom Wellington-Bottom:

6 large Portobello mushrooms

1 punnet chestnut mushrooms

large onion (or 6/7 shallots if you have them)

 2 x celery stalks

Shortcrust pastry (we used pre-made 1 pack, 300g)

4 crepes (we used pre-made)

large bag of spinach

Butter

6 cloves Garlic

Condiments and herbs:

Celery salt

Thyme

Mushroom Ketchup (and/or Worcestershire sauce if for non-veggies)

Madeira

Red wine or port

White pepper

1 bag fresh thyme

1. Melt a decent lump of butter in the frying pan and crack in a clove or two of crushed garlic. Add a decent splash each of Mushroom Ketchup, Port (and/or worcestershire sauce if for non- veggies) into the gills of each mushroom. Saute the mushrooms over a low heat for a long time (minimum 20 minutes),

2. While the large mushrooms are cooking, finely chop the onion (or shallots), carrots, celery and remaining garlic to make the duxelles. Saute until soft (about 10 minutes on a lowish heat)

3. Tip the finely chopped Chestnut Mushrooms into the frying pan with the remaining garlic butter. 

4. Add the sauted onion/shallot, garlic, celery and carrot mix into the frying pan with the chopped chestnut mushrooms. 

5. Chop a handful of thyme finely and chuck it in too.

6. Season the duxelles with salt, ground white pepper, a good splash of Madeira, Mushroom Ketchup (and/or Worcestershire Sauce if for non-veggies)

The duxelles needs to be cooked on the hob on a low heat until the liquid is absorbed and the mixture has become quite paste-like and all flavours absorbed - about 20 minutes +. Add in a knob of butter at the end and stir through. Keep tasting and seasoning until it tastes delish to you.

7. Meanwhile, once the portobello mushrooms are cooked (i.e. until they are caramelised on the outside, cooked down and soft, and most of the liquid has evaporated off)  remove from the pan and set aside, leaving any remaining garlic butter in the pan.

8. Chop the portobello mushrooms in half with a sharp knife and leave to cool.

9. Next cook the spinach by rinsing in water and adding to a pan to cook in its own steam. Cook until the leaves have just wilted and gone dark green and squashy and soft, then removes from pan.

10. Press spinach between 2 sheets of kitchen roll to absorb excess water.

Assembly:

11. Roll out the pastry until its 1/4 inch thick and about 20cm x 40cm (or if pre-made - just unroll it). It might make sense to do this on a baking tray - we didn't and then had to transfer the final pastry onto one, which was hazardous)

12. Layer the crepes so that they overlap along the middle of the pastry.

13. Add the duxelles mixture on top  of the crepes along the midline.

14. Spread it out until it covers the crepes

15. Grate a little stilton and sprinkle over the duxelles - don't be too heavy handed or it could overwhelm the mushroom flavours.

16. Finally, layer over the spinach and then build a "wall" out of layered half-Portobello mushrooms

17. Finally, roll up the pastry around the Portobello Mushroom wall, and pinch the ends together and fold the edge over on itself (as if wrapping a parcel). Do the same with the ends.

18. Get a willing helper to slather over some beaten egg to help seal the edges and provide a glaze.

19. Cook on a baking tray in a preheated oven at 180C for 40 minutes until the pastry is golden.

20. Slice, eat and enjoy!

NB You might want to make a madeira or port based gravy to accompany it, but its also delicious on its own.