Serves four
Ingredients:
Fillet of beef 500g
Roll of shop bought puff pastry
Wild mushrooms 500g out of preference
English mustard
Horse radish
Butter
Salt and Pepper
3 Shallots
300ml of red wine
6 Cloves of Garlic
Thyme (fresh if possible)
Eggs
Method:
The Beef Wellington
1. Take your fillet of beef and sear it in a medium to hot pan, containing an emulsion of melted butter and chopped thyme and then add a dash of olive oil on all sides, constantly basting the meat with the emulsion.
2. Once gently seared, put to the side and leave it to rest for 10-15 mins wrapped in tin foil.
3. Roughly chop or tear 300g of the mushrooms, the size is down to personal preference.
4. Add the mushrooms, 3 cloves of sliced garlic and some thyme to the same pan and fry off for 4-6 minutes depending on mushrooms being used.
5. Remove the mushrooms to a clean cloth to remove any excess liquid. This is essential to keeping the pastry dry, because let’s face it, no one like a soggy welly.
6. Roll out your pastry on to a tray lined with baking paper, paste a healthy helping of English mustard and horse radish. If need be, you can roll the pastry out onto cling film to assist with the rolling.
7. Lay the mushrooms in the centre of the rolled pastry where you will place your meat, then gently place the meat on the mushrooms.
8. Roll the pastry around the meat away from you, and use an egg wash to help bind the pastry together.
9. Stab a little prick in the top and bottom of the pastry in order to allow the steam to escape.
10. Now place your wellington in a preheated oven at 190°/Gas Mark 6 for 15 minutes. Now you can start on your sauce.
11. Take it out of the oven and egg wash the outside of pastry and place back in oven for another 10 minutes.
12. Repeat the previous step but this time why not try sprinkling some sesame or sunflower seeds over the pastry to make that pastry even more flavoursome. Put back for 5 minutes.
13. Take it out of the oven, and rest for 5 minutes.
14. Ready to carve.
Steak Diane Sauce
1. Finely chop the rest of the mushrooms, 3 medium to large shallots, 3 cloves of garlic and a sprig of thyme.
2. Sweat off the shallots, mushrooms and garlic with a dash of olive oil until tender and season with a salt and pepper.
3. Add 300ml a red wine of your choosing and simmer to reduce to 2/3.
4. Once reduced add a knob of butter and stir until you get a lovely thick consistency.
5. Further season to taste.
6. If preferred drain to get rid of the shallots and mushrooms but personally I like that added texture especially if drizzled on some new potatoes or mash.
