It was my plan to make my boyfriend and I a lovely sit-down Christmas dinner. One thing led to another, and we were both actually too busy to fit it in before Christmas. So we had a Hogmanay feast instead! For non-Scots readers, Hogmanay is, of course, New Year's Eve. Our dinner was three courses: smoked salmon with cucumber and fennel salad to start; beef wellington with mash, gravy and greens for the main; and an amaretti, peach and blueberry crunch pudding for dessert. And the drinks were flowing, naturally. The beef wellington was an absolute success, if I do say so myself, so I thought it would be a nice idea to share the secret of my success! Photos below, and recipe after the photos.
Alannah's Beef Wellington
Ingredients - to make a large wellington for 2 hungry people!
500g Chateaubriand
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 packet dried porcini mushrooms
1 packet chestnut mushrooms - roughly chopped
1 tablespoon truffle oil
2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 medium sized white onion - finely chopped
5-8 slices of Parma ham
1 sheet of ready rolled puff pastry (I used Jus-Rol)
1 egg or 1 tablespoon milk
Method - the night before
Step 1 - make the duxelles
1. Steep the porcini mushrooms in boiling water per the packet instructions.
2. Heat some truffle oil in a frying pan. Don't worry if you can't get truffle oil - use normal olive oil.
3. Add the finely chopped garlic and onion and fry for a few minutes.
4. Add all the mushrooms (not the stock from the porcinis) and cook until all the liquid has practically gone.
5. Once the mix has shrunk, stick it in a good blender or food processor and make it into a paste.
Step 2 - brown the meat
1. In the same pan you cooked the mushrooms, add a little butter or oil and get it quite hot.
2. Brown all sides of the meat until it is a nice golden caramel colour.
3. Drain the juices into the container where the mushroom stock is.
Keep your leftover mushroom stock to make the base for a gravy. Just add the beef juices from when you browned the meat, a little redcurrant jelly and reduce :)
Step 3 - prepare the filling
1. Allow the beef to fully cool.
2. Once cooled, coat it in a thin layer of Dijon mustard.
3. Lay out a piece of cling film which will be large enough to roll the whole of the joint up in.
4. Lay and overlap 4-5 slices of Parma ham onto the cling film, and add a thin layer of duxelles.
5. Place the coated meat onto the Parma and duxelles layer.
6. Cover the rest of the meat with the remaining duxelles.
7. Using as much Parma ham that is necessary, cover the remainder of the beef.
8. Cover the joint firmly with the cling film.
9. Place in the fridge and leave to chill overnight so the beef and other fillings take shape.
On the day of cooking
Step 4 - pastry
1. Pre-heat oven to 200 fan.
2. Bring the chilled meat of out the fridge.
3. Roll a sheet of pastry to fit the joint, if the ready-rolled pastry is not already large enough.
4. Unwrap the meat form the cling film and place onto the pastry.
5. Roll the pastry around the beef into your desired shape, crimping the edges to secure. You can just do this with a fork!
6. Egg wash or milk wash your parcel.
7. Place into your pre-heated and check after 30 minutes.
8. If the pastry is golden, the wellington is ready.
9. Leave to stand for a few minutes before serving.
10. Enjoy!
I really hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. It is time consuming but it really does taste fantastic and is a brilliant centrepiece if you're trying to impress.
Let me know how you get on :)
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