Turkey Wellington
Juicy turkey breast wrapped in garlicky mushrooms and golden puff pastry, a holiday showstopper that’s far easier than it looks.
- 90 min total
- 40 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $4.36 a serving
- 780 calories
Dolly says: Most of the time here is hands-off, so you can sit down while it cooks.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1¼ lb turkey breast tenderloins, 2 tenderloins
- 12 oz baby bella mushrooms, very finely chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 package puff pastry sheets, 2 sheets, thawed in the fridge
- 1 large egg, beaten
From your pantry
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, for rolling
Each serving has about 780 calories, 47 g protein, 53 g carbs and 43 g fat, and costs about $4.36 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No baby bella mushrooms? White mushrooms work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 400°F and line a with . Pat the turkey dry and it with ¾ teaspoon of the salt and the pepper.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Sheet pan. A sheet pan is a flat metal baking tray with a low rim all the way around. The rim catches juices, and the wide surface lets food spread out and brown.
How you’ll know: Everything fits in one layer with a little space between the pieces.
Parchment paper. Parchment paper is a nonstick, oven-safe paper for lining pans. Food lifts right off and cleanup is easy, but don’t swap in wax paper or put parchment under the broiler.
How you’ll know: It lies flat in the pan, and the food slides off when you lift it.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high until it .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
the turkey 2 minutes per side, until all over, then move it to a plate to cool 10 minutes. It won’t be cooked through.
Sear. Searing means cooking the outside of meat or fish in a hot pan, without moving it, until a deep brown crust forms. The crust is packed with flavor, and it only forms on a dry surface.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the moment it goes in, and it lets go of the pan on its own when the crust is ready.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min
the mushrooms very finely, almost to crumbs.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Dolly’s tip: Go smaller than you think. Fine bits cook down into a paste that hugs the turkey.Turn the heat to medium, add the butter, shallot and garlic to the same , and 1 minute.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heat
Add the mushrooms, thyme and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and cook 10 to 12 minutes, , until the liquid has cooked off and it looks like a dark, dry paste. Let it cool 5 minutes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 11 min
Dolly’s tip: Keep going until the pan is dry. Wet mushrooms make soggy pastry.Dust the counter with flour and roll each pastry sheet a little bigger, to about 11 by 12 inches. Spread half the mushrooms down the middle of each, the length of a tenderloin.
Brush the turkey with the dijon and lay one tenderloin on each strip of mushrooms. Fold the pastry over to cover it, the extra, and press the seams closed.
Trim. Trimming means cutting off the parts you don’t eat, like stem ends, tough bits or thick fat. It keeps chewy or bitter bits out of the finished dish.
How you’ll know: What’s left is the good part, with no dry ends, woody stems or thick white fat.
Set them seam side down on the pan, brush with the beaten egg, and cut 3 small slits in each top.
35 to 40 minutes, until the pastry is deep and a thermometer poked into the center of the turkey reads 165°F.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 37 min
Dolly’s tip: If the pastry browns before the turkey is done, lay a piece of foil loosely over the top.Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Let it 10 minutes, then it thickly with a serrated knife.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Timer: 10 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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