Mushroom and Chestnut Wellington with Porcini Sauce

method:

• Pre-heat your oven to 220C/425F /Gas Mark 7. Position, upper middle shelf. Boil your kettle.
• Start with the puff pastry. Unroll it carefully. Cut the pastry into 4 even sized (approx. 17cm x 13cm) rectangles. Put the pastry in the coldest part of your fridge, it is much easier to work with when it is cold.
• Next, prepare the mushrooms. Get a baking tray and a large bowl. Put the mushrooms, round side down on the tray. Pull out their stalks. Chop the stalks into lentil size pieces. Put them in the bowl. Add the lentils, the chopped (but not the quartered) chestnuts, 4 tbsp crème fraiche, 6 tbsp sliced chives and the garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Mix half the of crème fraiche with the lentil mixture then put an eighth of the mixture in each mushroom and squash them down. Turn one mushroom on top of the other, quickly so that the lentils don’t fall out, to make four sandwiches.
• Next make the egg wash. Get a small bowl. Add the egg yolk and milk. Mix together with a fork.
• Get the puff pastry rectangles out of the fridge. Brush them with egg wash. With the egg washed side facing down, put the pastry rectangles over the top of the mushrooms. Cup your hands over the top, mould the pastry around the mushrooms, the main thing is that you cover the join - depending on the size of the mushrooms, you may need to stretch the pastry slightly on the thinner side of the rectangles. Brush the pastry generously all over with egg wash. Bake the mushrooms for 18-20 minutes in the pre-heated oven until the pastry is golden.
• Make the porcini sauce while the mushrooms bake. Rehydrate the porcini mushrooms, as per the pack instructions. Once rehydrated, lift the porcini out of the water, pour the residual stock carefully into a small saucepan, there may be a little grit near the bottom, throw this away. Chop the porcini as finely as you can. Add the chopped porcini to the pan. Put the pan onto a high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce by 1/3. Take the pan off the heat.
• When the pies are ready and golden, stir the remaining crème fraiche (you’ll have about 130g) and sliced chives into the sauce. Warm the sauce through but don’t boil it. Season to taste. Serve with the mushroom wellingtons.