Beet Wellington

Move over Beef Wellington, because Beet Wellington is in the house! This recipe is ideal as the main dish for your Christmas dinner and will make for happy guests. Such a breeze to make too, so you can spend the remaining time on opening presents and drinking mulled wine.

Ingredients

For the broth:
200 ml red port wine
200 ml red wine
4 twigs of lemon thyme
1 piece of kombu (about 3 x 3 cm)
1 piece of star anise
1 cinnamon stick
Zest of ¼ orange
100 ml soy sauce
2 liters of veggie broth
Salt to taste

For the beet:
4 red beets

For the sauce:
250 ml red beet broth
50 gr of WildWestLand Cream Passionel
1 tbsp apple vinegar

For the duxelle (fancy word for mushroom goodness):
200 gr mushrooms, chopped into cubes
1 twig of thyme, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

For the Wellington:
8 pieces of puff pastry (16 x 16 cm)
4 leaves of the savoy cabbage (boiled for 15 seconds)

Preparation

Don’t be overwhelmed by the list of ingredients, it really is an easy recipe that will have everyone at the table wondering how on earth you didn’t become a professional chef.

For the broth:
Bring all the ingredients listed above for the broth to a boil. Reduce the broth on heat to about 1,5 liters and let it cool down a little. In the meantime, peel the beets. Add them to the broth and bring to a boil again. Lower the temperature and let the beets slowly cook, for about an hour and a half, with a lid covering the pot. If the beets are fully cooked, let them cool down in the broth. Take the beets out of the broth and strain. Let the beets rest, uncovered, in the fridge for one night. Need your Beef Wellington sooner? Let them dry in the (convection) oven on 60 degrees Celsius for two hours.

For the duxelle:
Fry the chopped mushrooms together with the thyme and garlic until they stop releasing moisture. Add salt and pepper to taste and put them in the fridge until further instructions.

For the sauce:
Reduce the broth on heat until you have about 250 ml. Add the WildWestLand Cream Passionel to the warm broth and mix with an immersion blender. If necessary, add some potato starch to thicken. Add salt, pepper and apple vinegar to taste.

For the Wellington:
Spread out the puff pastry and cabbage leaves on your kitchen counter. Spoon some duxelle, without any moisture, on every cabbage leaf. Add the boiled beet to it and wrap it in the cabbage. Put your little cabbagey package on a piece of puff pastry, add another one on top and press the edges of the puff pastry together so it’s a cute little package. Cut off excess dough and brush some oil on top. With a needle, make a small hole in the Wellington so any moisture can escape. Let them rest in the fridge for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven on 210 degrees Celsius. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes on 205 degrees and another 18 minutes on 190 degrees. Let them rest for a bit and cut them in half with a serrated knife. Serve with the beet and Cream Passionel sauce. Done! Now did someone say something about mulled wine?