Filet im Teig (pastry coated pork fillet) is, besides meat fondue and cooked ham with potato salad, what the Swiss in the German speaking part traditionally eat at Christmas. It’s easy to make and it can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge until it’s being baked, which makes this dish a great option if you want to entertain guests but don’t want to spend time cooking while your guests are here already. The sausage meat contains either savoury fillings like my recipe, or you can easily swap these for dried fruit like chopped prunes and apricots which go so well with pork too.
Filet im Teig was a classic dish of my childhood, either for Christmas, any other holiday or when we were entertaining guests during the year. I don’t think I’ve ever made it myself, so, as so often, this is my mum’s recipe.
Recipe
- One pork fillet (about 400-500 grams)
- 350g Kalbsbrät (Swiss veal sausage meat, sold over the meat counter or in small square tins)
- 1 rectangle sheet of puff pastry (320g or 25x42cm)
- 100g ham
- 100g mushrooms
- 1/2 bunch of parsley
- 1 tbsp Madeira or white wine (or any other liqueur)
- 1 egg
Method
Season the pork fillet with salt, pepper and a little yellow curry powder. In a frying pan, heat some oil and fry the fillet on all sides, only quickly until slightly browned. Put fillet on a plate to cool down and gently fry the sliced mushrooms in a little more oil.
Chop the parsley and cut the ham in small cubes. Mix the sausage meat with the fried mushrooms, the parsley, Madeira or white wine and the ham. If you want to make it special, you can add some grated black truffles. Add some salt and pepper and, using your hands, mix everything until evenly combined.
Roll out the puff pastry. Spread some of the sausage meat onto the pastry and put the fillet on top. Then entirely cover the fillet with the rest of the sausage meat. Crack the egg into a glass and paint the sides of the dough with a little egg white. Then carefully wrap the meat with the dough and press the dough ends together. Make holes on the upper side of the dough with a fork so the hot air can escape while baking. Then beat the egg and paint the dough with egg wash.
Bake at 190 degrees C for about 45 minutes or until the dough looks baked and slightly browned.
Serve either with vegetables only, or add some noodles, rice or potatoes.
Would this work without the mushrooms?
Hi yes sure that would work fine without mushrooms!