Beef Wellington Recipe
Serves 6
Ingredients:
750g piece of eye fillet
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
40g butter, melted and cooled
1 tbsp finely chopped chives
1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
20g dried porcini mushrooms
250g Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
2 eschallots, peeled, roughly chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon
8 thin slices prosciutto
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 sheets ready-rolled frozen puff pastry, partially thawed
red currant jelly, to serve
Method:
Remove sinew from beef. Tie 3 pieces of kitchen twine around beef to hold shape. Heat 2 tsp oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Season beef fillet all over with salt and pepper. Add beef to pan and cook for 8 minutes or until well browned on all sides. Transfer to a chopping board and stand for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Place flour, milk, egg and butter into a food processor and process until a thin batter forms. Transfer to a jug. Stand for 15 minutes. Stir through chives and parsley. Heat a 22cm (base) non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. When hot, add 1 tsp oil and spread around pan with paper towel. Pour 1/3 cup of batter into pan and quickly swirl, covering base. Cook for 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Turn and cook for a further minute. Transfer to a plate. Cook remaining batter. You will need 4 crepes.
Place porcini mushrooms into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Stand for 15 minutes or until softened. Drain. Place porcini and Swiss mushrooms, eschallots and tarragon into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Heat remaining oil in a non-stick frying pan. When hot, add mushroom mixture and cook for 5 minutes or until mixture is quite dry. Transfer to a plate. Cool.
Place a sheet of baking paper on a flat surface. Lay a piece of prosciutto, lengthways onto paper. Place another piece of prosciutto beside first piece, forming a long piece of prosciutto. Repeat with remaining prosciutto, down baking paper, forming a large rectangular shape. Spread with mushroom mixture.
Preheat oven to 220˚C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Remove beef from refrigerator. Remove plastic wrap and string. Spread mustard over beef. Place beef onto rectangle of prosciutto and roll, enclosing beef. Place crepes onto flat surface, overlapping slightly, to form a square. Place beef into center of crepes. Cut out squares from each corner of the square to form a cross shape. Fold one piece over beef. Fold in sides and roll, enclosing beef.
Place one sheet of pastry onto a flat surface. Cut remaining sheet in half and seal each half to two sides of whole pastry sheet. Cut corners from pastry, as with crepes above, forming a cross shape. Wrap beef in pastry. Transfer to prepared tray. Cut 3 star shapes from pastry scraps and place onto beef Wellington.
Using the base of a small piping nozzle, cut 2 rounds from pastry, between stars, taking care not to cut through crepe (this is to enable the steam to vent). Brush well with egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes. Stand for 20 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter. Spoon red currant jelly into a serving dish and serve with beef Wellington.