Joni from Manitowoc, WI (2018 Week 5: Pies)

Baker

Joni

Location

Manitowoc, WI

Baking Challenge

Wellington

Give your pie a name based on the ingredients and decoration.

Whitetail Welly

Tell us about your proudest moment – or humble failure – in this week’s baking challenge.

My husband gave up a beautiful backstrap from last year's whitetail harvest and was obviously anxious if I could pull off a Wellington without ruining this beautiful cut of meat. I used a rough brown mustard on the fillet. A good friend from the farmer's market gave me some dried shiitakes and golden oyster mushrooms for the duxelles. I also used prosciutto. The meat was fork tender, a little soggy on the bottom of the Welly; Paul and Mary would have noticed that, but it was soooo good! I've got to make a larger batch of puff pastry – this one was too small and I had to roll it to stretch it a bit.

Describe how you added a Wisconsin twist to your creation.

The whitetail venison was harvested in Wisconsin and is a huge part of our November heritage. The mushrooms were locally grown, and the red wine sauce was made with Parallel 44 Winery's 44 Red – reduced the entire bottle along with the liquid that I rehydrated the mushrooms with, plus a few more seasonings. Glossy red sauce paired well with the Whitetail Welly.

How did you do?

Absolutely lovely.