Kangaroo Wellington

Name: Kangaroo Wellington
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 3-4
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Ingredients: 3 shallots, finely diced; 250g flour; 1g salt; 4 eggs; 2 tbsp melted butter; 600ml milk

Ian Curley

January 24, 2012

Time:2 hours +Serves:3-4

Adding the crepe to this dish is a little cheffy trick to stop the pastry becoming soggy and/or the fillet becoming dry. It is possible to do it without the crepe layer but it does add a restaurant-quality element. Ian Curley is the executive chef at the European.

Ingredients

For the crepe:

3 shallots, finely diced
250g flour
1g salt
4 eggs
2 tbsp melted butter
600ml milk

For the duxelle

2 large beetroot
2 bay leaves
Sprinkle of sugar with a dash of water
2 peppercorns and a dash of red wine vinegar (this combined with the sugar and water makes what you could call a poaching liquid)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 sprigs thyme, picked
A little olive oil
Salt and pepper

For the Wellington

1 kangaroo fillet
2 slices prosciutto
Dijon mustard
2 heaped tbsp beetroot duxelle (as above)
1 crepe (as above)
1 strip of puff pastry (enough to wrap the entire fillet)
1 egg yolk beaten with a pinch of salt

For the sauce

5 Padron peppers
5 shallots, diced
Veal jus (Make your own or store bought is ok, too)

Method

Crepe: Whisk the flour, milk, salt and eggs in a mixer. When smooth, add the melted butter, and then pass through a fine strainer. Rest the mix for 4 hours. Cook as thinly as possible with a little butter.
Duxelle: In a pot, cover the beetroots in water and add bay leaves, sugar, water, peppercorns and red wine vinegar. Cook on a moderate heat until tender ( you may need to top up water). When cooked, drain water and while cooling, sweat shallots, garlic and thyme in a separate pot with the olive oil. Peel beetroots and blend to a puree in a food processor (if the beetroot puree is still wet, put in a strainer and hang over a pot to release some liquid).
Add beetroot puree to shallot mix and cook until dry. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cool.
Wellington: Heat a heavy-based pan until very hot. Lightly oil and season the fillet well. Seal the fillet until well coloured on all sides and remove from heat and chill as quickly as you can (you don’t want the meat to begin cooking on the inside). While you chill the fillet, lay out one crepe on a clean work surface and top with two slices of prosciutto in the centre, pat down the two tablespoons of duxelle. Paint the kangaroo fillet all over with mustard and then put the fillet in the centre of the duxelle and wrap the entire parcel as neatly as possible.
Lay the puff pastry strips down and position the parcel 1 centimetre away from the edge of the pastry and roll to encase. Seal with egg yolk (you are aiming for the sealed seam to be underneath and duxelle layer to be on the top side for presenting). Brush the top of the Wellington with egg yolk and bake in oven at 180c for about 15 minutes, until rare to medium rare. Rest for a few minutes before carving into three or four portions.
Sauce: Saute the shallots with the Padron peppers and the jus just before blending and straining. This gives the jus a little hint of heat, which sits very well with kangaroo.
We plate this dish with roasted pumpkin and beetroot puree and garnish with watercress and mint.

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