Beef Wellington Recipe

Faith

I have a craving to try my hand at making Beef Wellington. Has anyone got a tried and tested, not too difficult recipe they can recommend? I'm a pretty good cook, but this is probably the most challenging thing I'll have tried to make yet, so I don't want an overly complicated recipe!

fred funk }{

What I normally do is finely chop up onions and mushrooms. Put into a dry pan on a medium heat and cook until all the water has come out of them both.

Now slowly add some cream to the mix and keep mixing. When it reduces add some more cream. Keep doing this until it has absorbed alot of cream but make sure it's not too moist when you're finished.

Now to the meat. Fillet steak is a must. In a hot pan seal the portions of steak and finish off in the oven. Cook the steak to your liking. Personally I like my steak medium but in this dish I like it medium/well. Season the meat well when its cooked.

Get about five layers of filo pastry squares, big enough to wrap around the meat. Spread the mushroom/onion mixture all over the steak and place it ontop of the filo pastry. Pull up the edges around the top of the meat and twist at the top to make a parcel. Wash it with egg and put into a moderate oven until golden brown. YUM YUM!

Minder

There are lots of different recipes for beef wellington and the finished dish will depend on how many you are cooking for and how you like your beef cooked.

A good recipe for individual wellingtons can be found at the British Larder

Personally, I like Beef Wellington as follows: Fillet of beef topped with a layer of pâté, followed by a layer of mushroom duxelle, wrapped in a fine crepe, then enrobed in puff pastry and baked. Served with a madeira sauce.

The most complicated part of this whole dish is the sauce. That involves making a brown veal stock, a caramelised veal jus and the addition of madeira makes the final sauce.

Complicated? Not really - just time consuming to make all the elements of the sauce. The stock makes well in a large batch individually portioned for the freezer.

If you want to do it this way, let me know how many its for and I can copy out the steps.

Some tips that are useful whatever recipe you choose. Fillet is a must. Dry aged fillet will not give up much juice while cooking so you could get away with not using the crepes. Also use a preheated baking tray. Drop your baking tray with the oven ready wellington onto a preheated baking tray the same size. This will help cook the pastry at the bottom and prevent it getting soggy.

foodaholic

I was thinking of giving this recipe http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/638951 a go for a dinner party, havent tried it yet but seams managable.

olaola

That Rachel Allen recipe is good - you can use Parma ham too, helps stop the pastry getting soggy. Don't roll out the pastry too thin either - and I would say cook it for about 20 mins at 220C. Don't turn it down. That should give you perfect med-rare for a 7-8oz fillet.

Faith

Minder, I'd like to hear your recipe alright, if you wouldn't mind.

I never thought of doing individual ones, alá Rachel Allen's recipe. It seems very straight-forward. Possibly easier because I'd be cooking for 3, but then I do like the idea of the one big one that you cut into pieces.

Mrs Fox

I've tried Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington from the F-word. Turned out great

Minder

Faith wrote: »

Minder, I'd like to hear your recipe alright, if you wouldn't mind.

I don't mind at all - I post that Thursday or Friday if that's alright.

Victor_M

Mrs Fox wrote: »

I've tried Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington from the F-word. Turned out great

I've made this a fair few times and it's amazing, not too complicated either.

Minder

Beef Wellington

Brown Veal Stock – Makes 2 litres

100ml vegetable oil
6kg veal bones
1 garlic bulb
1 onion
2 carrots
4 celery sticks
1 leek
100g tomato paste
150ml red wine
1 calfs or pigs foot (split)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp white peppercorns
A few thyme sprigs

Roast the veal bones (not the foot) in a preheated oven at 200c for 40 minutes.
Strain the bones through a colander to remove the oil and add to a stock pot.
Add all the vegetables to the roasting trays and roast the vegetables for 20 minutes.
Add the tomato paste, stir through the vegetables and roast for another 10 minutes.
Tip all the vegetables into the stock pot.
Deglaze the roasting tray with the red wine and add this to the stockpot. Also add the calfs or pigs foot.
Cover the bones with cold water and heat on the hob.
Skim for impurities and simmer for 6 hours uncovered.
Strain the bones and vegetables and reduce the stock to 2 litres.
Store the stock in 4 batches in the fridge (will last 3 or four days) or freeze it.
The stock can be further reduced by half to make to a glace. Store in 200ml batches as above.

Veal Jus and Madeira Sauce

50ml vegetable oil
350g veal trimmings
50g butter
6 shallots diced
150g white mushrooms sliced
4 garlic colves
150ml white wine
1 litre veal stock
200ml Veal Glace
60ml Madeira

Heat the oil and fry the veal trimmings on a high heat until well coloured. Reduce the heat, add the butter and continue to cook for 10 minutes. We want lots of colour on the meat and lots of crusty bits on the pan. Add all the vegetables and cook for 10 minutes on a medium heat. Drain off the oil and deglaze with the wine, cook until the wine is almost gone. Add the stock and cook until reduced by half. Strain the jus through a fine sieve. This gives about 500ml of veal jus.

To make the final sauce, add the Veal Glace and reduce by about a third. Add the Madeira and reduce again. The gelatinous veal glace and the reductions should produce a light sauce full of flavour. The final reduction needs to be watched, it doesn’t want to get too concentrated – it should coat the back of a spoon. Only at this point is salt added. Taste and season.

Beef Wellington
1 kg mid section fillet of beef trimmed
25g butter
Brandy
250g white mushrooms pulsed in a food processor
150g chicken liver pate at room temperature.
100g shallot finely diced
4 crepes made with a regular pancake batter and cooked very thin
3 tablespoons of cream or for a real luxury, 3 tablespoons of truffle cream (Sold in Jars as Crema di Tartufo)
250g all butter puff pastry
Egg wash
2 baking trays the fit inside each other.

Preheat the oven to 220c with one baking tray in the oven.
Make the mushroom duxelle by cooking the finely diced shallot in the butter, next add the mushrooms and cook until the liquid they release evaporates. Add the cream or truffle cream and cook until thickened. This needs to be pasty rather than saucy.
Season the fillet with a little pepper and salt and colour in a pan on all sides. Add a splash of brandy and flame. Set aside to cool.
Roll the pastry out so that it’s wide enough to cover the beef.
Lay two crepes across the pastry and spread the pate to the same width as the fillet.
Spread the duxelle over the pate.
Lay the fillet on top and cover the fillet with the remaining crepes, trimming and tucking them in around the beef. Egg wash the edges of the pastry then gather up the pastry and fold over the beef overlapping the pastry by about an inch down the centre of the fillet. Trim the ends to reduce any overlaps in the pastry and seal with egg wash. Flip the pastry over onto the sealed edge and place on the second baking tray. Eggwash the whole thing and score with a knife for a pattern.
Slide the cold tray into the hot one and bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 220c, then reduce the heat to 190c and continue to cook for a further 20 to 25 minutes.
Rest the Beef Wellington for 10 minutes in a warm place before carving into thick slices.