Veggie wellingtons with some chicken
I had a serious amount of puff pastry left over from something I will tell you about in a few days… 🙂 and I wanted to use it. I am not going in putting stuff in the freezer. I usually end up forgetting completely I ever made anything that went into the freezer. You see our freezer is usually stuffed to the brim with fishfood. For when Tom decided he wants to go carp fishing, so the little space that is left goes to things like peas and maybe some fries or meat I bought.
Anyway, I saw a recipe for vegetarian wellingtons in the Good Food and decided to change it a bit to be a little less vegetarian (but you could easily make it a veggie version if you like) as I had some leftover chicken that I wanted to use.
It’s actually a really easy recipe; if you have either storebought puff pastry or homemade puff pastry you can easily fill this with anything you like. I used spinach, mushrooms, chicken and cheese and rolled out the pastry with some thyme which is also sprinkled a bit on top to give it a bit added flavor. To be honest I thought it was lovely but quite heavy on the stomach. No wonder really with all that pastry made with loads of butter, so if you’re on a diet (as I should be!!) don’t go for this dish! But it’s lovely and quick (apart from the needed time in the oven)
Veggie wellingtons with chicken
Ingredients
- Chestnut mushrooms about 200 gr sliced
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- 100 gr chicken cooked or smoked shredded or chopped
- 300 gr spinach leaves
- a bit of flour for rolling the pastry
- 1 tbsp of picked thyme leaves
- 350-500 gr puff pastry block
- 140 gr cheese use one with a bit of sharp taste. Stilton would be nice but I could easily see any blue cheese go well here too
- 1 egg beaten for the eggwash
- 1 Heat the oven to 200 C. Clean the mushrooms and slice. Heat the oil in the frying pan and sizzle the mushrooms for about 3-4 minutes untill golden and cooked through. Lift them out of the pan and let drain on kitchen towel.
- 2. Place the pan back and add the rest of the oil. Fry the garlic briefly before adding the spinach in the pan and stir for about 2-3 minutes untill it's completely wilted. Season with salt and pepper and leave to drain thorougly! I actually squeezed most of the water out with my hands once the spinach got a bit cooled down.
- 3. On a lightly floured surface sprinkle the thyme leaves and the roll out your puff pastry block to about a dollar coin thickness. Using two round shapes cut out 2 circles and then 2 circles that are about 10 cm wider then the first.
- 4. Place the smaller circles on a baking tray and carefully arrange your spinach, mushrooms, cheese and chicken on top making sure you leave space around the edges to place the larger circle over. Brush the border around your filling and then gently stretch the larger circle over the top of your filling making sure not to trap any air.
- Press the edges with a fork. Trim the edges with a knife if you want to, then brush them both generously with eggwash. Bake for 40 minutes untill golden, then leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.
- Ofcourse the size of your pastries determines for how many people this recipe is. I made two but you can make four smaller ones or 1 large one. That's up to you!
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
