"Cheat" Pork Wellington with Beetroot and Lentil balls

themagus (68)in #food • 8 years ago

I usually make the main meal on a Sunday but we are off to see UB40 live tonight, so yesterday I made a ‘cheat’ Wellington. Dinner was Pork Wellington and Beetballs with a fresh green salad.

Starting with the Beetroot and Lentil balls.
Ingredients:
3 medium beetroots
Clove crushed garlic
Tsp curry powder
Seasoning
Cup of cooked lentils (I used from a can)

Peel and grate the beetroot. Squeeze the excess juice out of the beetroot (hence the gloves ) and place in a blender along with all the other ingredients and pulse until a fairly smooth consistency.
Shape into balls by rolling in between the palms of your hand.

Pork Wellington…….. not as complex as a Beef Wellington but still very tasty.

Ingredients:
Pork Fillet
Puff Pastry
Mushrooms
150ml’s dry white wine
4 sprigs fresh thyme
One beaten egg

Dry the fillet and then brown in a little bit of olive oil. The time you cook the fillet is how you want it served as the cooking time in the oven does not cook it further. As these were really small fillets I did about four minutes each side. Place in fridge to cool down.

Chop the mushrooms and saute in some butter , then add the wine and fresh thyme and simmer until all the wine is reduced. Remove from heat and allow to cool down.

Roll out the pastry until about 2 mm’s thick, spread the mushroom ‘duxelle’ on the pastry enough to wrap the fillet in it.

Season the fillets well and wrap in the streaky bacon. The bacon ensures that the meat stays moist and the smoky taste of the bacon really adds value to the final taste

Cut the pastry to shape so you can roll the pastry around the fillet and mushrooms, brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg to ensure the pastry binds well. Score lightly on top with the back of a knife, brush with beaten egg and place in fridge to chill while pre-heating the oven to 200 degrees celcius.

Bake fillets in oven for 25 – 35 minutes until browned all over, remembering to place the tray of beetroot and lentil balls in for the last 20 minutes.

I made a green salad and used a ‘packet’ pepper sauce as I was sampling the remainder of the Chardonnay while cooking … and got a bit lazy to make my own sauce.
Voila, complete meal (sans sauce as I forgot to take a photo)