Lamb Wellington recipe

Lamb Wellington is sure to impress your family or guests just as much as the beef version. 

You can use various cuts of lamb for this dish, but it needs to be quite tender meat, not a slow cooking joint like a shoulder. Boneless lamb loins, lean rump or a cannon would all work. For a cannon, you may need two long fillets, pressed together. For loins you can just arrange them into a Wellington shape. This dish serve 4 and it's really luxurious. You could make a smaller version for two, for a special, celebratory dinner. A meat thermometer is pretty essential for this dish as you won't be able to tell if the lamb is cooked (or overcooked) from the outside.

Ingredients

• 500g lamb loin, lean rump or cannon
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 40g (1½oz) butter
• 200g (8oz) mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 2 sprigs thyme, leaves only, chopped
• 75ml double cream
• 375g ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Trim the lamb so you have nice lean pieces. 
2. Heat the oil and half the butter in a large frying pan, then sear the lamb on all sides until brown. Set aside to cool.
3. Put the chopped mushrooms in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Fry in the remaining butter, adding the crushed garlic cloves and thyme leaves, until soft. Season, then add the cream and simmer until reduced to a thick consistency. Allow to cool.
4. Lay a sheet of clingfilm on a flat surface and spoon the mushroom mixture onto it in a fat rectangle. Lay the lamb on top, in a line along the length of the rectangle. Use the clingfilm to wrap the mushrooms around the lamb and create a sausage shape. Twist the ends to seal and leave in the fridge to cool and set slightly, for 30 minutes.
5. On a lightly-floured surface, roll out the pastry into a large rectangle until it’s about 0.5 cm (¼inch) thick. Carefully remove the clingfilm from the Wellington, and lay it on the pastry. Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg, then fold the pastry edges over the top of the beef. Turn the Wellington over so the join is underneath and place on an oiled baking tray.
6. If you want to be fancy, decorate the outside of the Wellington with pastry trimmings and brush with the remaining egg.
7. Bake for 15 mins then check the interior temperature with a meat thermometer - for medium lamb you will probably want it to be about 50º-55ºC (125-130ºF).

Top tip for making lamb Wellington

You can add a layer of prosciutto ham over the top of the mushrooms and before the pastry if you like, for extra flavour. Lay 4 pieces of ham out on the clingfilm before adding the mushrooms. This will also help the chilled Wellington to hold it's shape as you wrap it in pastry.

You might also like...

• Beef Wellington
• Vegetarian Wellington