Mushroom Wellington is a vegetarian spin on the French classic ‘beef wellington’. The original is an elegant meal, using a beef tenderloin covered with liver pate’, wrapped in pastry and baked. The key to preparing items in this fashion, is that however long it takes to bake the pastry to a golden brown is how long it will be in the oven. In other words, the filling needs to require less time to cook.
A plant based filling makes that even easier to achieve than its meat filled cousin. The use of different types of mushrooms cut into varying sizes gives the dish texture and heartiness along with an earthy flavor. The secret to a deliciously juicy yet flaky mushroom wellington is to drain everything dry and make sure it is completely cold before wrapping it in the puff pastry. Skip this step and your pastry is not only going to be soggy, it will tear when you try to wrap up your wellington. Believe me — ‘bin there, done that’!
Although this would probably be the center piece of a vegan meal, it works beautifully as an accompaniment to meat and roast veggies as well.
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- 3 slices (80 gm) bacon, diced (optional)
- 250 grams wild mushroom blend OR your choice of mushrooms, cut in various sizes
- 1/2 large onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 tsp dried sage leaves
- 3/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried summer savory
- 1/4 Tsp EACH salt & pepper
- 140 grams (about 1 cup) Basmati rice, cooked & COLD
- 100 grams Gruyere or Parmesan cheese, grated
- 450 gram pkg frozen puff pastry
- 1 egg plus 1 Tbsp water, beaten for egg wash
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small-medium carrot, cut into 1-inch size pieces
- 1 small celery stalk, cut into 1-inch size pieces
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp sour cream, optional
Ingredients
Mushroom Wellington
Vegetable Gravy
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- In a skillet, fry diced bacon until crispy. Remove bacon to paper towels & blot dry, leaving drippings in skillet. Chop mushrooms, onion & garlic. Saute veggies with spices in bacon drippings until moisture has evaporated. Remove from heat, add bacon & drain or blot off any excess moisture. Cool mixture completely then add cold, cooked Basmati rice, stirring to blend. While the mixture cools prepare vegetable gravy if you are using it.
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Line your choice of preferred baking pan mold with thawed puff pastry. You should have excess enough to fold over the 'top' of filling. This will form the bottom of your wellington when baked. In each wellington, place 1/4 of the filling, topping each with 50 gms of the cheese. Divide remaining filling between the two wellingtons & fold the excess pastry over it.
- If you choose to make a decoration for your baked wellingtons, cut it from some of the excess before closing them. Bake the decorations on a separate pan. Place molds on a baking sheet & bake for about 35 minutes or until pastry is cooked. Remove from oven. I like to flip them onto paper towel at this point just to blot off any excess butter from pastry. Do what you prefer in this case.
- In a saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add bouillon powder, garlic, carrot, celery & onion. Cover & simmer until veggies are very soft. Remove from heat & cool slightly. Puree in food processor or blender. Combine cornstarch & water in a small dish. Stir into puree; return to heat & stir until boiling & slightly thickened. Stir in sour cream IF USING. Serve over mushroom wellingtons.
- If you prefer, omit bacon & use butter to saute your veggies in making it a more vegetarian friendly entree.