Classic Beef Wellington

You will need to allow a few hours for prep and basic stages for this dish, but the results are well worth it.

Beef Fillet

Season the beef fillet thoroughly with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat and, once the pan is nice and hot, add the beef, sprinkling over the chopped thyme. Sear the fillet, turning it every 1-2 minutes to ensure that all sides are coloured. Remove the beef once the outside has browned but the centre is still rare, if you prefer your meat more well done then simply continue cooking for longer. Coat with the Dijon mustard and leave to rest in the fridge

800g of Dry aged Aberdeen Angus Beef fillet,

salt

pepper

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of thyme leaves, chopped

2 tbsp of Dijon mustard

For the mushroom duxelle, melt the butter in the same pan, then add the chopped shallots and cook until soft and translucent, add the mushrooms and sauté until golden brown. Tip in the Madeira and reduce, season well. Remove from the pan and leave to one side

80g Butter

4 shallots finely chopped

500g of button mushrooms, finely chopped

100ml Madeira

For the pancakes, make a smooth batter by whisking the milk, eggs and flour together. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan. When it is hot, add the right amount of batter to make a very thin layer in the bottom of the pan. Cook until golden on the underside, then flip the pancake over and cook the other side. Repeat this process until all the batter has been used and set the cooked pancakes to one side.

140ml of milk

2 eggs

150g of plain flour

Oil

Wrapping

Lay the pancakes on cling film slightly overlapping, spread the duxelle over the pancakes making sure its an even thickness, lay the fillet in the centre, then carefully wrap the pancakes over the fillet making sure its totally covered. Wrap in cling film then place in the fridge for an hr.

Pastry

400g puff pastry or rough puff pastry

Roll the pastry out to a rectangle about the thickness of a pound coin ( 5mm) and large enough to cover the fillet.

Unwrap the fillet then place on top of the pastry, then carefully wrap the fillet in the pastry sealing the edges with beaten egg, make sure you do not make the join and edges too thick.

Lay the fillet on a tray joint side down, then carefully very lightly score the pastry with a knife making a decorative pattern then finely brushing with beaten egg.

Cooking

Pre heat oven and baking tray to 180.c gas 4.

Then carefully place your Wellington on the pre heated baking tray and place in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes making sure that the pastry is golden brown.

Allow to rest for 15 mins before carving.