GORDON RAMSAY’S FOOL PROOF BEEF WELLINGTON
An absolutely ‘fool proof’ recipe that looks and tastes magnificent. This classic dish is a great one to impress your friends and family, I must have cooked this recipe more than 20 times now, and am yet to have a fail. It is a staple request in our household, and one of my favourites for guests because most of the prep work can be done well beforehand, and you can just magically make it appear out of nowhere…too easy!
The keys to this dish are: 1) Use good quality meat, and 2) Stick to the cooking and resting times and you can’t go wrong.
400g Mushrooms, roughly chopped
750-800g piece eye fillet steak
2-3 heaped tbs English Mustard (I likeDijon)
Approx 4-6 slices prosciutto (need enough to be able to wrap the fillet)
2x sheets puff pastry
Flour to dust
2x egg yolks, beaten
Sea salt & ground black pepper
Olive oil for cooking
Serves 4
Put the mushrooms into a food processor with some seasoning and pulse to a rough paste. Scrape the paste into a frypan and cook over high heat for about ten minutes, tossing frequently, to cook out all of the moisture from the mushrooms. Spread out on a plate to cool.
Heat a frypan on high heat and add a little olive oil. Season the beef and sear in the hot pan for 30 seconds on all sides. Remove beef from pan and set aside to cool. When cool, spread the mustard over the beef on all sides.
Lay a sheet of cling film on a bench top and arrange the prosciutto on it in slightly overlapping rows. Spread the mushroom paste evenly over the ham, then place the beef fillet in the middle.
Keeping a tight hold of the cling film from the edge, neatly roll the prosciutto and mushrooms around the beef to form a tight barrel shape. Twist the ends of the cling film to secure, then chill for 15-20 minutes to allow the beef to set and keep its shape.
Place the puff pastry on a floured surface (I use the plastic backing of the pastry sheet). Remove the cling wrap from the beef then lay it in the centre. Fold the ends over, then wrap the pastry around the beef, trimming any excess.
Turn over so the seam is underneath and place on a baking sheet. Brush the pastry all over with egg yolk and chill for about 15 minutes to let the pastry rest. (The dish can be prepared to this stage and held over until you are ready to cook – just bring it back to room temp beforehand).
Heat the oven to 200 deg Celsius. Lightly score the pastry at 1cm intervals and glaze again with egg yolk. Bake for 20 minutes at 200 deg, then lower the temp to 180 deg and cook for a further 15 minutes. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes wrapped in foil before carving.
The beef should still be pink in the centre (med rare) when you serve it. Because it is such a flavoursome dish I generally serve it with pretty simple baked or smashed spuds and steamed vegies. I took these photo’s whilst preparing for a dinner party, so was doing two servings. Any leftovers are always a big hit in Lily’s school lunch box.
Photo and recipe posted by Francois Swanepoel
