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Becky Gilhespie, Dinner ideas, meat recipe, recipes, scanpan, scanpan techniq

The Roast with the Most: Beef Wellington

Becky Gilhespie |

Juicy and tender beef wellington recipe featuring Scanpan TechnIQ

Could there ever be a more show-stopping dish than Beef Wellington? A beautifully elegant, perfectly pink fillet of beef, moreish mushroom duxelles and Prosciutto ham, encased within the golden, flaky pastry.

This beautiful dish is made even better by the fact that it can be prepared a day in advance, then cooked just before you need it. This is the perfect dinner centrepiece for holidays and special occasions.

Understanding the main steps in making a Wellington is key to seeing that it is actually quite a simple process.

  1. Searing the beef and brushing on mustard.
  2. Making a mushroom duxelles (pâté) filling.
  3. Layering the beef and the mushroom duxelles together with Proscuitto ham, and then wrapping in pastry.
  4. Roasting to Medium Rare - Medium.

And here are some tips to ensure your Wellington really is fool-proof:

  • To calculate servings: allow 150-200g beef per person.
  • No two beef fillets are the same – some thick and some thinner, and this may alter your cooking time. That is why I suggest starting with roasting for 25 minutes, then checking with a meat thermometer every few minutes until it registers just under 55C for Medium Rare, or just under 60C for Medium.
  • Remember that it will continue to cook while resting, so that is why I suggest to err on the side of under. Aim to bring it out 2-3 degrees under what you’d like to achieve.
  • Also, know that the ends will be slightly more done than the middle – good for guests with different preferences.
  • Season the beef well on all sides.
  • Cook as much moisture out of mushrooms as possible.
  • Don’t roll pastry too thinly.

Ingredients:

Fool-Proof Beef Wellington with Red Wine Jus:
  • A meat thermometer
  • 1 good quality, whole beef eye fillet of 800g (serves 4 people, see notes for more servings)
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt and Cracked Black Pepper
  • 500g Mixed Mushrooms
  • 2 sprig thyme, leaves removed
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • ½ cup Sherry
  • 12 slices Prosciutto or Parma Ham
  • 2 Tbsp Dijon or English mustard
  • 2-4 sheets of frozen Puff Pastry
  • 2 eggs, beaten with a little milk
For the Red Wine Jus:
  • ½ bottle of Red Wine
  • 350ml Beef Stock
  • 2 shallots, peeled and sliced
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • Pinch sugar
  • Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Method:

The day before:

1. Trim any white sinew off of your beef fillet and reserve for sauce. Brush all over with olive oil, and season well with salt and cracked black pepper.

2. Heat a pan to searing hot, and carefully place the fillet down. Sear for about 2 minutes a side, rolling and searing 3 more times to get all sides browned. Set aside to cool.

3. Roughly chop and place the mushrooms in a food processor and pulse to chop into fine pieces. Bring the pan you seared the beef in back up to heat, and add the mushrooms (note, no oil is required as we want to reduce all the liquid). Stir the mushrooms and cook for around 5 minutes until they release their juices and that is nearly reduced. 4. Add the crushed garlic and thyme to the pan and sauté for 2 more minutes Add the sherry, stir and reduce – until virtually completely dry. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

5. Lay down a large piece of cling film and place the slices of ham in two rows of 6 with adjoining ends. Spread the mushroom duxelles evenly over the top of the ham slices.

6. Brush the eye fillet all over the mustard, and place on top of the mushroom/ham. Fold the cling film up and around, so the mushrooms and ham come over the sides of the beef. Add another sheet on top to secure the cling film. Wrap tightly with more, going around the whole fillet. 7. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes. 8. Dust a large, clean workspace with flour and lay out the squares of pastry, slightly overlapping to join the ends. Flatten the pastry by rolling into one large sheet (it should be a little bigger than the ham rectangle you made.

9. Unwrap the beef and place gently onto the pastry, onto the edge that is nearest you. Holding the end of the pastry, roll the beef and the pastry forward, so that the pastry is completely and snugly wrapping the beef. Trim (allowing about 4 cm overlap) and place the pastry seam side down. Trim and wrap the ends and fold neatly underneath. 10. Brush all over with egg wash, and then make a scoring pattern all over. 11. Place uncovered in the fridge until the next day.

To make the Red Wine Jus:

  1. In a hot pan, brown any trimmings in a little oil, then add the shallots, cracked black pepper and thyme. Cook for a few minutes until the shallots are translucent.
  2. Add the red wine and boil until it is 2/3 reduced.
  3. Add the stock and bring to a gentle boil for 1 hour, or until a sauce texture is achieved. Skim the surface occasionally to remove any film or impurities.
  4. Pour through a sieve and set aside to cool until the next day.

Serving Day:
  1. Heat the oven to 200C. Place the Wellington on a sturdy roasting tray and cook in the middle of the oven.
  2. To ensure this is fail-proof, use a meat thermometer. At 25 minutes, insert the thermometer through the pastry into the middle of the tenderloin. Medium Rare will register 55C, Medium 60C, but aim to bring it out 2-3 degrees under what you’d like to achieve. After 25 minutes, check every 3-5 minutes until the desired temperature is achieved. It might take up to 40 minutes, depending on the thickness of tenderloin.
  3. Rest for 10 minutes or more. Slice thickly to serve.
  4. While the beef is resting, heat the prepared red wine jus.

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