Mushroom Wellington
A duxelles cooked until it squeaks, roasted portobellos at the core, and pastry that goes into a hot oven cold.
- Prep
- 1h
- Cook
- 55m
- Waiting
- 55m
- Total
- 2h 50m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Involved
Method
Shop-bought all-butter puff instead of rough puff. You lose an hour and a little flakiness, nothing else.
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 300 g | Make rough puff with three book folds, resting between each 45m Leave the butter in visible flakes. Those flakes steam in the oven and that steam is the lift. | Wrap and seal, chill 30 minutes, then glaze and score 20m Seam underneath. Score only through the top layer, never all the way in. | Bake at 200°C / 400°F until deep brown all over 40m Hot oven, cold pastry, and a preheated sheet under it so the base sets fast. | Rest 10 minutes, then cut with a serrated knife 10m Sawing gently. Pressing down with a chef's knife crushes the pastry into the filling. | ||
| 250 g | ||||||
| 1 tsp | ||||||
| 1 tsp | ||||||
| 130 ml | ||||||
| 700 g | Cook the duxelles until the pan squeaks and no liquid runs 25m Twenty-five minutes sounds long. It is not — you are removing most of 700 g of water. | Roll the filling into a tight log in the spinach and chill it firm 15m Use cling film and twist the ends like a cracker. A firm log is a log you can wrap. | ||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 3 cloves | ||||||
| 40 g | ||||||
| 5 sprigs | ||||||
| 75 ml | ||||||
| 1 1/2 tsp | ||||||
| 4 | Roast the portobellos gill-side down until they give up their water 20m | |||||
| 2 tbsp | ||||||
| 250 g | ||||||
| 100 g | ||||||
| 2 tsp | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
-
Make rough puff with three book folds, resting between each
45m- strong white flour 300 g
- cold butter 250 g
- salt 1 tsp
- lemon juice 1 tsp
- ice water 130 ml
Leave the butter in visible flakes. Those flakes steam in the oven and that steam is the lift.
-
Cook the duxelles until the pan squeaks and no liquid runs
25m- chestnut mushrooms 700 g
- shallots 3
- garlic 3 cloves
- butter 40 g
- thyme 5 sprigs
- madeira 75 ml
- salt 1 1/2 tsp
Twenty-five minutes sounds long. It is not — you are removing most of 700 g of water.
-
Roast the portobellos gill-side down until they give up their water
20m- portobello mushrooms 4
- olive oil 2 tbsp
-
Roll the filling into a tight log in the spinach and chill it firm
15m- from 2 Cook the duxelles until the pan squeaks and no liquid runs
- from 3 Roast the portobellos gill-side down until they give up their water
- spinach 250 g
- cooked chestnuts (optional) 100 g
- English mustard 2 tsp
Use cling film and twist the ends like a cracker. A firm log is a log you can wrap.
-
Wrap and seal, chill 30 minutes, then glaze and score
20m- from 1 Make rough puff with three book folds, resting between each
- from 4 Roll the filling into a tight log in the spinach and chill it firm
- egg 1
Seam underneath. Score only through the top layer, never all the way in.
-
Bake at 200°C / 400°F until deep brown all over
40m- from 5 Wrap and seal, chill 30 minutes, then glaze and score
Hot oven, cold pastry, and a preheated sheet under it so the base sets fast.
-
Rest 10 minutes, then cut with a serrated knife
10m- from 6 Bake at 200°C / 400°F until deep brown all over
Sawing gently. Pressing down with a chef's knife crushes the pastry into the filling.
| 700 g | Cook the mushrooms down hard, then roll into a log and chill 30m Still cook them until dry. Shop-bought pastry forgives a lot, but not a wet filling. | Wrap the chilled filling in the pastry, glaze and chill 30 minutes 15m Chilling before it goes in is the one step you cannot skip. Warm pastry leaks butter and goes flat. | Bake at 200°C / 400°F for 40 minutes, then rest 10 40m | |
| 4 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 3 cloves | ||||
| 40 g | ||||
| 5 sprigs | ||||
| 250 g | ||||
| 1 1/2 tsp | ||||
| 1 block | ||||
| 2 tsp | ||||
| 1 |
-
Cook the mushrooms down hard, then roll into a log and chill
30m- chestnut mushrooms 700 g
- portobello mushrooms 4
- shallots 3
- garlic 3 cloves
- butter 40 g
- thyme 5 sprigs
- spinach 250 g
- salt 1 1/2 tsp
Still cook them until dry. Shop-bought pastry forgives a lot, but not a wet filling.
-
Wrap the chilled filling in the pastry, glaze and chill 30 minutes
15m- from 1 Cook the mushrooms down hard, then roll into a log and chill
- all-butter puff pastry 1 block
- English mustard 2 tsp
- egg 1
Chilling before it goes in is the one step you cannot skip. Warm pastry leaks butter and goes flat.
-
Bake at 200°C / 400°F for 40 minutes, then rest 10
40m- from 2 Wrap the chilled filling in the pastry, glaze and chill 30 minutes
Why the filling has to be dry
Puff pastry rises because water trapped in thin butter layers flashes to steam and forces the dough apart. That only works if the oven’s heat reaches the pastry — and a wet filling boils at 100°C, capping the base at that temperature and turning it to paste while the top rises fine. Cooking the duxelles until the pan squeaks, wringing the spinach out and pre-roasting the portobellos all serve one goal: remove the water before it gets inside the parcel.
Notes
- A preheated heavy baking sheet under the parcel gives the base a head start.
- Assemble and freeze it whole. Bake from frozen at 190°C for about an hour.
- Slice it with a bread knife and a sawing motion, and let it settle first.