Foolproof Beef Wellington

You know that one dish that never ceases to please just about everyone? Well, this is mine.  This is our Christmas dinner every year and also tends to crop up for other special occasions.  We do it for Christmas because with Paul being American we celebrate Thanksgiving and a full turkey dinner twice in a month is just too much for me!  This is a very traditional recipe with a beautiful mushroom and shallot duxelle and cheaters (store bought) puff pastry*.  Serve with some pan gravy, roast potatoes cooked in goose fat, some trimmed asparagus drizzled in lemon butter and roasted beetroot for an amazing luxurious (and easy, but no one will be able to tell) dinner!  Apologies for the poor photos, I only had my iPhone at the time.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 2-3lb beef or venison fillet, trimmed
• 8oz cremini (chestnut) or wild mushrooms, finely diced
• 2 shallots, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• butter
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or brandy
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 2-3 sprigs fresh parsley, finely chopped.
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 15 slices of prosciutto or serrano ham
• 1 package of puff pastry*
• Egg wash**

Heat a large skillet and add a glug of olive oil.  Season the trimmed fillet with salt and pepper and sear each side until browned, about a minute a side, longer if you want your finished fillet to be cooked more than medium rare.  Remove from heat, set aside. 

Add butter to skillet and allow to melt.  Add shallots and cook for a few minutes until softened.  Add mushrooms and cook until liquid has evaporated.  Add white wine and cook down until liquid is gone.  Stir in the garlic and herbs, cooking for a minute.  Remove from heat. 

Unroll a large piece of plastic wrap, thick enough to wrap around the fillet.  Lay out the prosciutto, slightly overlapping on the cling film.  Spread the mushroom duxelle over the prosciutto leaving about an inch at the edges. Coat the fillet with the dijon mustard. 

Place the fillet on top of the duxelle and prosciutto then use the plastic wrap to bring the prosciutto up and around the fillet. Roll the fillet up tight, twisting the plastic wrap at each end tightly to form an even cylinder. Pop in freezer while you prepare the pastry.

Roll out the pastry sheet so that it is large enough to enclose the fillet.  Brush the edges with egg wash and wrap fillet up sealing the edges.  Use any extra pastry to make a decorative topping for the wellington.  Brush the pastry with egg wash and bake for 25 minutes at 200C/400F for medium rare and 30 minutes for medium. Allow to stand for ten minutes before carving.  Enjoy!

* Aldi are doing a butter puff pastry in their chilled section now and I have to say it's very good and much better value than the branded stuff!

**1 egg plus a teaspoon of cold water

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