LAMB AND SPINACH WELLINGTONS

LAMB AND SPINACH WELLINGTONS

So, I kind of thought I had baked enough cakes for a bit, (although Reece's peanut butter cheesecake is sounding so ridiculously tempting - or Twix tray bake kind of tickles my fancy too), but I have to wait until I have some more people round before I commit culinary suicide, so I am concentrating on a fine savoury dish instead...

We are only allowed to eat lamb when Holly is not in the house; for some reason she's taken a huge disliking to it, although with hunger pans and her eyes shut, it generally slips down a treat...
She would have been a vegetarian in her younger years, but realised she didn't like vegetables, so the whole thing became rather awkward.  Anyway, back to the lamb...

They are a little special these, so no need to knock them up on a quiet Monday night (unless of course, you are hoping for a new dress, and then a bit of spoiling goes a long way).  But whatever the occasion, they are a bit of an effort, but look and taste totally delicious...

I use lean lamb neck fillets, because it is tasty AND cheap, but if you are feeling flash, then go for tenderloin as it is slightly more flavoursome , and some may say a bit more tender...

INGREDIENTS  (FOR 4)

150g chestnut mushrooms
3 garlic cloves
1 red onion
4 anchovy fillets
3 tbsp olive oil
2 x 300g tenderloin lamb (or equivalent in neck fillet)
1 tbsp English mustard
A bag of VERY LARGE spinach leaves
500g block puff pastry (or make your own)
1  beaten egg
plain flour for dusting - so your pastry doesn't stick to the damn table

Put the oven on at about 200 degrees.

Whizz the mushrooms, garlic, onion and anchovies in a food processor to make a rough paste, then put a couple of tbsp olive oil in a pan and add the mushroom paste, and cook it over a medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Once it's cooked, then pop it in a sieve, and leave over a bowl while you are doing everything else.

Heat the rest of the olive oil in a pan over a high heat, and fry the lamb (season it first with salt and pepper) for a couple of minutes on each side until it's browned.  Leave to rest for 10 minutes.  Then, cut the lamb in half (widthways), and brush each side with english mustard.

Place a sheet of baking paper on the table, and lay 3 or so large spinach leaves to form a square (around 15cm) - This recipe does get a bit mathsy, so if you always sat in the back of the maths class in Div 4, then you may need your small child to help you out.


Spread a quarter of the mushroom paste over the spinach, and pop the mustard covered, browned lamb on the top.  Use the baking paper to roll and wrap the lamb in the spinach, and then repeat until they have all been done, and you've used up all the paste.

Now for the pastry, and all the technical mathsy stuff...

Dust the surface with flour, and roll out the pastry to around a 25cm x 50cm rectangle. Cut in half widthways so you have 2 x 25cm squares (I did warn you)... then cut each square into quarters (okay all done).

Put each wrapped lamb piece on a pastry square, and brush the edges with the egg, so when you put another pastry square on top of it, you can press down the sides together so they stick, and all the edges are sealed.  Then cover the top with the beaten egg too, and sprinkle a little pepper on the top.


Pop the parcels on the baking sheet, and bake for about 17 minutes until they are golden.  Remove from the oven and serve to your very favourite people..... best with peas and glugs of red wine ...