Cream cheese Wellington
Warm or cold, this cream cheese baked in puff-pastry and layered with Cremini mushrooms, bacon and shallots pairs well with a small bottle of Lambrusco and some left over ciabatta that you have toasted up.
This is one of those dishes you want to take it easy on because you aren’t fooling anyone when you say you are on a diet and then proceed to eat half of this appetizer. It is about as healthy as it sounds. My wife kids herself that this dish is healthier when I make this with “reduced fat” cream cheese.
This is a perfect appetizer spread when you have friends over and is incredibly easy to prepare. I’ve laid out the instructions so that your time actually cooking is kept to a minimum if you can chop whilst keeping an eye on a pan on the stove.
There is no Nutrition Label for this recipe yet.
- 4 strips bacon cooked golden brown, drained and chopped fine
- 15 mg unsalted butter
- 1 large shallot chopped fine
- 225 g Cremini mushrooms chopped fine
- 15 ml chives chopped very fine, optional
- all-purpose flour for dusting
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- pinch salt to taste
- pinch pepper to taste
- 225 g cream cheese regular or reduced fat
- 1 medium egg for egg wash
- 15 ml milk for egg wash
- Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F / Gas Mark 5
- Place a large skillet or saute pan over a medium flame
- Cook the strips of bacon until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side
- Meanwhile, peel and chop the shallot very fine
- And de-stem and chop the mushrooms very fine
- Drain the bacon on paper towels
- Melt the butter in the same pan you cooked the bacon. Don't bother to clean out the pan
- Place the shallot in the pan with the melted butter
- Let the shallot cook for a minute or two, just until it turns translucent
- Add the mushrooms to the cooking shallot, spreading them as thinly as possible
- Turn the heat down to medium-low
- Let the mushrooms cook until soft and a lot of the moisture has evaporated, about 10 to 15 minutes or so
- Stir the mushrooms occasionally just to ensure they don't stick, spreading them out thinly after each stir
- Whilst you are waiting for the mushrooms to cook, finely chop the cooked bacon
- And finely chop the chives to about 3 mm in length
- Dust a work surface with about 30 g (2 tbsp) of flour
- Unwrap and unfold the puff pastry
- Roll out the puff pastry so that it is about half as big again as when it was fresh out of the packet. The puff pastry should be big enough to wrap around the block of cream cheese with a little overlap along one edge
- Place the cooked mushrooms and shallot in a medium mixing bowl
- Add the chopped bacon to the mushrooms
- Add the chopped chives to the mushrooms and bacon
- Season with a pinch of salt and pepper
- Mix up the bacon, chives, mushrooms and shallot
- Lay down a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet (the one with a lip, it can drip grease and water during cooking)
- Lay out the puff pastry on top of the parchment paper
- Spread 1/3rd of the mushroom/bacon/chive mixture in the middle of the puff pastry
- Unwrap the cream cheese and place the block on top of the mushrooms and bacon in the middle of the puff pastry
- Cover the cream cheese with the remainder of the mushroom/bacon mixture
- Gently press the mushroom/bacon mixture against the cream cheese. It doesn't need to be perfect
- Fold up the puff pastry around the cream cheese
- Beat the egg in a small mixing bowl and whisk in the milk
- Lightly wash down one edge of the puff pastry with the egg wash
- Fold up the dry edge of the puff pastry on to of the cream cheese
- Fold up the washed edge of the puff pastry top of the cream cheese
- Pinch in the ends, add a small amount of egg wash, and tuck them over (on top)
- Lightly brush the top of the puff pastry with more egg wash
- Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. Rotate half-way through the cooking for even browning across the top
- Lift the parchment paper off of the baking sheet and place on top of a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving
I usually serve this with some toasted ciabatta bread.