Sausage & Pork Tenderloin Wellington

Here is another one of my lazy dinner party ideas that I've actually served twice in the past month. This is the sort of thing I do like on the menu because it can be prepared well in advance and then popped into a hot oven and virtually ignored while you entertain your guests. There's nothing worse than being absent at your own party because you've chained yourself to the stove with a time-demanding menu. 

I served this with oven roasted  potatoes and carrots which also demand very little attention from the host. To complete the dinner, I had earlier prepared a batch of my very popular Perfect Onion Gravy which goes well with all the different components of this meal.

When I made this a few weeks ago, I actually made enough for two meals, freezing the completed sausage and tenderloin rolls wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Fast forward a few weeks to a class pot-luck supper when all I had to do was take the rolls out of the freezer and while still frozen, I wrapped the pastry around them, placed them on a baking sheet, and thawed them in the fridge overnight. A quick egg wash later and they were popped into the oven a couple of hours before the pot-luck started. It worked out perfectly, so I've decided now to always prepare enough for a fuss free second meal.

Serves 4-6

2 large pork tenderloins

1 pound uncooked mild Italian sausage meat (just remove casings if you can only find link sausages)

1 tbsp smaoked paprika

3 cloves finely minced garlic

2 sheets frozen puff pastry (thawed in the fridge)

salt and pepper to season

Place the pork tenderlon on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. Using a mallet (or even a rolling pin in a pinch), pound the whole tenderloin to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Do the same for the second tenderloin and place it beside the first to form a rectangle. Season with salt and pepper and rub the minced garlic over the surface of the tenderloin. Sprinkle the smoked paprika over the tenderloin before evenly spreading the sausage meat evenly over the surface of the tenderloin.

Roll the whole thing up into a tight roll. Wrap the roll in the puff pastry. Depending on the size of your roll, you may have to roll out the dough a little or join another half sheet with a little brushing of egg wash. If you choose, you can decorate the top of the Wellington with puff pastry leaves. Work quickly with very cold dough for best results.Just cut leaf shapes out of the dough with a very sharp knife. You can then score lines into the leaves with the tip of a sharp knife; one down the middle and shorter lines radiating from it to replicate the veins in a leaf. Lightly brush the whole thing with an eggwash made from whisking together:

1 egg

3tbsp water

Pop the completed Wellington into the fridge until ready to bake. The dough should be very cold so at least a half hour in the fridge will be necessary in order for the pastry to puff properly. Bake in a preheated 425 degree F oven for 15 minutes befopre reducing the heat to 375 degrees F until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees F. This should take about another hour, maybe less for smaller rolls, trust the meat thermometer for the most accurate means of testing for a fully cooked Wellington. Let the Wellington sit for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

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