Chicken Wellington with Pesto Sauce

I really love this recipe which I concocted when looking for something elegant to do with chicken breasts that would not dry out. It’s a beautiful looking and tasting dish, perfect for the holidays and you can serve a small portion as an appetizer or larger for a main, as you please.

The ingredients are not fancy but the ultimate result both looks and tastes fancy, if you get me. I used mallawach dough for this this time but have used puff pastry as well and both work beautifully and they bake in the oven for about the same amount of time. You are preparing the pesto, and then you prepare the chopped meat mixture, gently roll out your dough and enfold them all together. It’s not difficult but there are a few steps to it. This is worth the end results and will be a compliment to the recipients of your work.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Start with the pesto.

Take washed, cleaned basil leaves (yup, you must remove them from the stems) and place in a food processor or blender.

Add the garlic, salt and pulse.

Now I normally add pine nuts to this but only had walnuts to hand (I’ve made it with them before) and chop it pulsing. With the processor running, add the olive oil till a thick puree forms. Taste and see if you wish to add the optional honey to balance the bitter of the walnuts.

Set this aside but I usually put a layer of olive oil on top so it shouldn’t darken too much.

Next prepare the chopped meat mixture.

Mix it up, incorporating 3 tablespoons of pesto into the mixture. Also, that’s a cube of my sauteed frozen onions ( Basic Sauteed Onions, A Kitchen Staple ). An important note, I beat the one egg in a cup and add to the mix but save about a tablespoon in the cup for brushing on the finished pastry for a nice brown crust.

Set aside. Now take out your mallawach pastry or puff pastry and gently roll a bit to get to a size that will encompass your chicken breast which is either in shnitzel form (thinly sliced) or pounded moderately thin, not crazy thin. Lay the chicken on the dough.

Now mound some of your meat mixture on the chicken, like so. (Make sure you divvy up the meat mix according to dough rounds or squares and shnitzels).

Gently pull the ends of the pastry over the ends of the chicken and fold like an envelope, tucking it in and pressing down to seal.

Line a baking tin with parchment paper and turn right side up (no seal showing). Do this till you use up your meat, shnitzel and pastry. I get 7 of these out of the deal.

Remember your tablespoon of beaten egg? Now’s when you brush it on the wellingtons.

Pop the wellingtons into the hot oven and bake for 22-27 minutes or until golden brown (peek after 22 minutes).

Serve sliced on the diagonal with a small mound of pesto. Try not to lick your fingers in front of company 😉 .

Chicken Wellington with Pesto Sauce

6-7 chicken breasts cut moderately thin or pounded but not too flat NOT a whole chicken breast
Mallawach pastry OR puff pastry, sufficient to wrap the wellingtons, either one container of mallawach or one roll of puff pastry should suffice. If your roll looks skimpy, get 2, you don’t want to be left without sufficient pastry

Pesto:

4 cups washed, cleaned and shaken off basil leaves (no need to pat dry)
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 rounded teaspoon salt
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
2/3 cup walnuts
1-2 teaspoons honey (optional)

For Meat Mixture:

500 grams (1/2 a kilo) or about 1 pound of chopped beef
1 large egg beaten, save one tablespoon of egg for brushing on pastry
2 tablespoons fried onions, or 1 small onion peeled, chopped and fried in a tablespoon or 2 of oil
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2-3 tablespoons of the prepared pesto

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 F.

Prepare the pesto. In a food processor or blender, place the basil leaves and chop by pulsing. Then add the garlic and salt and nuts, pouring the oil in the feed tube while running the processor. When all chopped and smooth, taste to see if a bit more bitter than you like and if so, drizzle in a bit of honey which offsets it nicely, this is optional according to your taste and place in a container and cover with a thin layer of olive oil. Set aside.

Now prepare the meat mixture. In a bowl place the chopped meat, the fried onion, the pesto, the breadcrumbs and the egg reserving 1 tablespoon of beaten egg to brush on the pastry. Mix together till all is incorporated.

Take your rounds of dough (or squares, just make sure they will envelop the chicken) and place one piece of chicken on the pastry, mounding lightly some of the meat mixture (either divide up by eye or literally for the 6, or 7 pieces of shnitzel you have) on it and fold in from top and bottom and enclose like an envelope (see pic above) pressing to seal. Then take a baking tin and line with parchment paper and lay the pastries face up (no seam should show). Brush lightly with the reserved egg.

Place the baking tin in the oven and bake for 22-27 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with a nice dollop of pesto on the side and slice the wellington in half diagonally for a lovely presentation.