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Tuna Wellington

An adaption of Josh Niland's tuna wellington, to be more suited for the homecook.
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: European
Keyword: Fish, Seafood

Ingredients

  • 1 kg tuna fillet

Yoghurt Pastry

  • 400 g plain flour
  • 200 g yoghurt greek
  • 30 g water cold
  • 280 g salter butter grated
  • 1 egg beaten, for eggwash

Mushroom Duxelle

  • 500 g mushrooms cup, portobello, swiss brown
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 brown onion
  • 100 g ghee

Crepes

  • 330 ml beer
  • 120 g plain flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 g salt
  • 75 g butter melted

Tuna Gravy Sauce

  • 600 g tuna frames, offcuts
  • 1 shallot french
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 g black peppercorns
  • 2 g juniper berries
  • 50 vinegar white wine
  • 150 ml white wine
  • 10 g soy sauce
  • 20 g treacle
  • 1 L water boiling/ hot
  • 20 g ghee

Instructions

Make the tuna gravy sauce

  • Preheat the oven to 220C. Place the tuna frames and off cuts into a large tray, in one even layer. Roast in the over until golden and caramelised, around 40mins.
  • Peel the shallot and garlic. Slice the shallots and roughly mince the garlic. Heat up 20g of ghee in a heavy based pot. Add in the shallot and garlic and gently saute over medium heat until fragrant and lightly golden. Add in the black pepper and juniper berries and saute for another 2 mins.
  • Remove the tuna frames from the tray and place into the pot. Add in the vinegar and white wine into the pot, increasing the heat to high. Deglaze the pot, scraping all bits and pieces up from the base of the pot.
  • Deglaze the tray with hot water, scraping all the bits and pieces off, add into the pot. Add in the soy sauce, treacle and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low, skimming off any scum. Continue to simmer on low for 30-40mins, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened. Strain the mixture and reserve the sauce.

Make the pastry

  • Grate the cold butter with a cheese grater, add into a large mixing bowl with the flour. Quickly and gently toss the butter through the flour, coating the shreds of butter as much as possible with the flour.
  • Add in the yoghurt and water. Mix to form a very dry and shaggy dough. Turn out onto a clean work surface. Knead and push until the dough just comes together. It shouldn't be homogenous and you should still see streaks of butter and yoghurt throughout the dough. The dough will feel quite dry and just barely holding together, don't add anymore water! Wrap the dough tightly in clingwrap and place in fridge for 20-30mins to rest and hydrate.

Make the Mushroom Duxelles

  • Place 50g ghee in a roasting tray and place in the oven for 3 mins.
  • Roughly chop the mushrooms. Remove the oven tray and spread the mushrooms out on it evenly. Roast the mushrooms for 15-20mins, until golden and well caramelised.
  • In the meantime, peel and dice the onion and garlic.
  • Heat up 50g of ghee in a pan over medium high heat. Add in the onion and garlic. Saute for 5-10mins, until caramelised.
  • Remove the mushrooms from the oven tray and strain off any juices. Add the mushrooms into the pan of onions and garlic. Decrease the heat to medium low and continue to cook, stirring often for another 5mins.
  • Remove the mix from the pan and strain off any juices. Transfer to a food processor and process until finely diced but not pureed. Season with salt and black pepper.

Make the crepes

  • Sift together the flour and salt.
  • In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well. Add the eggs into the dry ingredients, mixing well. Pour in the melted butter and whisk well so the mix is smooth.
  • Add in the beer and whisk well so the there are no lumps. Place the mix back in the fridge to rest for 20-25mins.
  • In a small frying pan, set over low heat, add in 1 tsp of oil. Use a paper towel to wipe any excess. Pour in some of the batter and swirl the pan to spread it out thinly and evenly. Cook for 30secs-1min until it has just set, then flip and cook for another 15-25secs, until golden brown on both sides. Remove and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the batter.

Construct the wellington

  • Lightly dust a work surface. Remove the pastry dough from the fridge and gently knead a few times, don't overwork it, the dough will feel hydrated now and no longer dry. Roll the dough out into large rectangles 2mm thick, roughly 20cm x 30cm. Transfer onto a silicon mat or baking paper and place into the fridge to rest for around 15mins.
  • Trim and tidy up your tuna fillets. Make sure the skin is removed and there are no bones. Remove the blood line if desired. Cut the fillets into blocks, approximately 10cm x 7xm x 5cm. Keep the tuna fillets in the fridge, only working with one at a time.
  • Cut out a piece of baking paper around 20cm x 15cm. Spread out a rectangle of duxelle mixture on it thinly, approx. 10cm x 8cm in size. Place a block of tuna fillet on it and season with salt. Gently roll it up using the baking paper, so that the tuna is covered by the mushroom duxelles all over, except the ends. Secure and place in freezer for 15mins to set.
  • Cut out a piece of cling wrap roughly 30cm x 25cm. Place a piece of crepe on it, in the centre. You may need a second piece of crepe, so keep it handy on the side. Take out the mushroom wrapped tuna from the freezer and very carefully unwrap it. Place it in the centre of the crepe, and using the cling wrap, gently roll it up covering the entire block with crepe, including the ends. Wrap tightly with cling wrap and place in the freezer to set for 15mins.
  • Take out a piece of pastry from the fridge. Remove the tuna wrapped in duxelles and crepe from the freezer and gently unwrap and place at the end of the pastry rectangle. Gently roll it up firmly, with minimal overlap at the ends, trim off the excess. You can use a little egg wash to glue the ends together and gently pinch the seams together well. Next, fold up either end carefully, as if wrapping a gift, trimming off any excess and pinching the joins of the pastry together well. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and place in the freezer for 10mins to set.
  • Remove the wellington from the freezer, unwrapping the clingwrap. Place on a piece of baking paper and gently brush with egg wash. Season with salt. Place a temperature probe in, horizontally, lengthwise, into the centre. Place into the oven (it should be set at 240C still). Bake until the internal temperature reaches 20C (it took around 15-18mins for me). Remove from the oven immediately. Let the wellington rest undisturbed until the internal temperature reaches 32C (it took around 5-8mins for me). Carefully, cut and serve the wellington immediately, with the tuna gravy.