Beef Wellington
Served with roasted potatoes and roasted asparagus.
Ingredients for 2
- ½ lb Fillet Beef
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ½ lb mushrooms
- 2 Thinly Cut Slices of Ham
- 1 tbsp Yellow Mustard
- 3 ½ oz Puff Pastry
- 1 Egg Yolks Beaten
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
Side: Roasted potatoes
- ¾ lb red potatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Side: Roasted asparagus
- 6 oz asparagus
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ¼ lemon
Instructions
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Season the fillet with salt and black pepper.
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With a nicely-oiled pan on high heat, sear the fillet on all sides, including the ends. For the standard medium-rare beef wellington, do not cook the fillet, just sear it, tough if you want something more cooked than medium-rare, it's wise to give it more heat here. Put it aside on a plate.
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Brush the fillet with yellow mustard immediatly after taking it out of the pan. This allows the musturd's flavour to be absorbed by the fillet and thus preserve a mildly hot flavor.
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Chop the mushrooms. Put them in a food processor. Transfer the purée to a sauté pan that has been heated to medium high heat to cook. Allow the mushrooms to release their moisture; once the moisture has been boiled away take the mushrooms out of pan to cool.
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Lay out the slices of ham on plastic wrap and spread the mushroom mixture over the ham. Place the fillet in the middle. Wrap the fillet into a tight barrel shape twist the end of the plastic wrap to secure the wrap and the refrigerate the whole thing for 20 minutes.
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Preheat the oven to 302°F/150°C.
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On a lightly floured surface, roll out a sheet of puff pastry to a size that will fit the fillet. Preserve a little excess pastry. Unwrap the fillet-mushroom-ham from the plastic wrap and place in the middle of the pastry dough. Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg yolks.
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Place the pastry-wrapped thing on a baking tray. Brush the exposed surface again with the beaten eggs. Optionally, score the top of the pastry with a knife, to give it a better presentation. Scratch the surface of it but don't cut it through. Season it through with coarse salt.
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Bake at 302°F/150°C for 35-42 minutes. The pastry should be nicely golden when done. Let it rest for about 10 minutes and cut it into 1in/2.54cm-thick slices for presentation.
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About 40 minutes before serving, start the potatoes: heat the oven to 425°F. Cut the potatoes into bite-size pieces, toss with the olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast for 25–30 minutes until golden, turning once. If the oven is already in use at a lower temperature, roast on another rack and allow 10–15 minutes longer.
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About 12 minutes before serving, snap the woody ends off the asparagus, toss with the olive oil and salt, and roast at 425°F (or pan-fry) for 8–10 minutes. Squeeze over the lemon.