Flavours of Autumn

Written by Benmore Estate

Published on 5th October 2021

Embrace warm and cosy autumn flavours with our favourite autumn recipes.

Venison Wellington

With a robust, gamey flavour, venison loin is the perfect alternative to beef in a classic Wellington. We’ve added the rich earthy flavours of porcini and truffle to amplify this traditional dish.

Ingredients:

1 kg centre fillet of free-range venison ,(We may be biased but Scottish is best!)
½ a bunch of fresh thyme
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
olive oil
400g mixed mushrooms
25g dried porcini mushrooms
1 clove of garlic (if you’re a real garlic lover feel free to top this up with a few additional cloves)
1 small knob of unsalted butter
truffle oil
1 whole nutmeg
a sprinkle of plain flour, for dusting
1 x 500 g block of all-butter puff pastry
1 large free-range egg

Method:

Remove the venison from the fridge at least 1 hour before cooking. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6.
Crush the juniper berries in a pestle and mortar until fine. Pick the leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme and all the rosemary, then finely chop together.
Place the venison on a board and rub all over with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper, then scatter over the juniper and herbs, and give everything a good rub.
Preheat a large frying pan on a high heat and sear the venison for 2 minutes on all sides, turning with tongs, then remove to a plate.
For the filling, clean the mushrooms and roughly tear any larger ones. Place the porcini in a small bowl, just cover with boiling water and leave to soak for a few minutes. Peel and finely chop the garlic.
Wipe the frying pan clean, then add the garlic and mushrooms with the butter and a lug of olive oil. Strip in the remaining thyme leaves, then roughly chop and add the soaked porcini and its soaking liquid (straining to remove any grit). Cook on a medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until the liquid has gone and the mushrooms are soft, stirring regularly.
Tip the contents of the pan onto a board, drizzle with ½ a teaspoon of truffle oil and a few gratings of nutmeg, then roughly chop to a coarse pâté-like consistency with a sharp knife (or blitz in a food processor). Taste and season, then leave to cool.
On a flour-dusted surface, roll out the pastry to 30cm x 40cm. With one of the longer edges in front of you, spread the mushroom pâté over the pastry, leaving a 3cm border.
Beat the egg and use to brush the edges. Sit the venison on the mushroom pâté then, starting with the edge nearest to you, snugly fold and roll the pastry around the venison, pushing it away from you and cupping each end to shape it around the fillet. Press the ends together to seal, then indent with the back of a fork.
Transfer the Wellington to a large baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, and brush all over with egg wash (you can prep to this stage and chill until needed – just remove it 1 hour before cooking so it’s not fridge-cold).
When you’re ready to cook, heat the tray on the hob on a medium heat for a couple of minutes to start crisping up the base, then transfer to the oven for 30 minutes for blushing, juicy venison.
Once cooked, leave the Wellington to rest for 5 minutes, then slice. Delicious served with gravy and steamed greens.

For a deliciously rich gravy, ask your butcher for some venison bones and roast for 1 hour with onions, carrots and celery. Transfer to the hob, add some beef stock and a lug of red wine, then simmer for a couple of hours, scraping up the sticky goodness from the base of the pan and topping up the liquid as needed. Strain through a sieve into a clean pan, and simmer until reduced. Job done!

Scottish Game Pie

Full of flavour and heritage – returning home to a rustic game pie after a day on the hill is a matchless joy (especially when the Scottish weather has not been on your side!). Comfort food at it’s best.

Ingredients:

2 mallard breasts, diced
4 jars of confit mallard leg meat
2 pheasant breasts
2 pigeon breasts
4 white onions
1 pack of readymade puff pastry
1 pack chestnut mushrooms
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
100g plain flour
400ml game stock
1kg red skin potatoes
150ml milk
85g butter
1tbsp wholegrain mustard
Salt

Method:

Dice all the game, but the mallard leg meat into 1-inch cubes.
Coat the meat in seasoned flour and fry off until crisp and fully cooked. Place the meat in a pie dish.
Slice the onions and fry them in a little oil until softened. Add the mushrooms and, when golden brown, tip the mushrooms and onions over the top of the meat.
Heat up the game stock and add a little redcurrant jelly to sweeten before pouring over the pie mix. Leave the pie mix to cool and add the mallard leg meat.
Cover the whole pie dish with the pre-rolled pastry and brush the top with egg yolk.
Bake for 40 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 180°.
While the pie’s in the oven, peel the red skin potatoes and boil until soft, then mash with the butter and milk.
Add 1 tbsp of mustard, or more to taste. Season with salt and white pepper.
To make the gravy, pour the ale into a saucepan on a high heat and reduce it by half. Add the 200ml of game stock and thicken with the gravy granules.

You can’t beat a steaming hot game pie with lashings of ale-rich gravy. It’s simpler than you might think to cook your own; this recipe uses readymade pastry and pre-prepared confit mallard to make the whole thing even easier. There’s a combination of mallard, pheasant and pigeon but if you can’t get hold of same of the game, you can substitute for more or less of whatever you have available.

Pumpkin Soup

You know autumn has well and truly arrived when soup is back on the menu. It’s healthy, super creamy and can fill up a flask for a warming lunch break while out on the boat or stalking in the hills. Roasting half the pumpkin and sweating the other half in butter gives you a dynamic range of pumpkin flavours. This recipe can be tweaked to contain additional autumn flavours such as wild mushrooms and chestnuts (our favourite).

Ingredients:

A drizzle of olive oil
200g butter
1 onion, finely diced
1/2 a pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut in 3cm chunks (about 700g)
800ml chicken stock (swap for vegetable stock to make this dish vegetarian)
100ml double cream
A sprig of rosemary
3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
Salt and finely ground pepper to season
Additional: Oyster mushrooms, blue cheese, roasted chestnuts, toasted hazelnuts.

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 180°.
To start the soup, thinly slice half your pumpkin and cut the other half into large cubes.
Roast the large cubes of pumpkin drizzled with a little olive oil in the pre-heated oven for roughly 45 minutes or until soft and caramelized.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and sweat the onions and thinly sliced pumpkin for approximately 10 minutes.
When the onions are translucent, add the sprig of rosemary, the chicken(or vegetable) stock, half the double cream and the roasted pumpkin. Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes until the sliced pumpkin is soft.
Remove from the heat, liquidize and pass through a fine sieve.
Season well with salt and pepper (a flaky sea salt such as Maldon is best.) and swirl in left over double cream.
Finish with toasted pumpkin seeds or hazelnuts to add an extra crunch.