February 16, 2017

Finally: an easy Beef Wellington recipe

beef wellington
Arthur Wellesley was the 1st Duke of Wellington, and Beef Wellington is named after him. Image credit: NNDB

An historic British (but also French) dish with an interesting story behind it, Beef Wellington is a delicious and decadent meal perfect for hearty family dinners and gatherings. It’s not known for being easy to make, but our favourite recipe is much simpler than most. Read on and prepare yourself for deliciousness.

Ingredients

  • 400g large portobello mushrooms
  • 750g piece of beef tenderloin
  • olive oil
  • 6-8 slices of ham
  • 500g puff pastry
  • 2 egg yolks, beaten
  • flour, to dust
  • 1-2 tbsp English mustard
  • salt and pepper, for seasoning

Method

  1. Blend mushrooms with seasoning in a food processor until paste. Scrape paste into a pan and cook on high heat for 10 minutes, or until the moisture is gone from the mushrooms. Spread out on a plate to cool.
  2. Add some olive oil to your frying pan and heat it up. Season your beef and sear it very briefly (for about 30 seconds). Remove from the pan and then generously brush it with English mustard.
  3. Lay down a sheet of cling-wrap on your kitchen bench. Arrange the slices of ham in slightly overlapping rows. Spread the mushroom paste evenly over the ham, before placing the seared beef in the middle. While tightly holding the cling-wrap from the edge, neatly roll the ham and mushrooms around the beef, forming a tight cylindrical shape.
  4. Allow to chill for 10-15 minutes so the beef sets and preserves its shape.
  5. On a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle. Remove the cling-wrap from the beef, and lay the beef in the centre of the pastry. Brush the surrounding pastry with beaten egg yolk.
  6. Fold the ends of the pastry to wrap around the beef, and remove excess pastry. Turn it over so the fold is on the bottom, and brush the now-top side with egg yolk.
  7. Allow to chill for about 15 minutes so the pastry rests and heat oven to 200°C.
  8. Lightly score pastry at 1cm intervals and glaze with egg yolk again. Bake for 20 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 180°C – cook for a further 15 minutes.
  9. Allow to rest for 20 minutes before serving.

Tips

  • Don’t be perturbed! The beef should look nice and pink in the centre once you’ve cooked it. That’s actually the secret to a really tasty, well-made Beef Wellington.
  • Why not shake things up a bit and serve it with an interesting side dish? Perhaps a light Asian salad or a zesty sweet potato mash? Get experimental.
  • This isn’t the breeziest dish to make, so do yourself a favour by getting a good quality readymade puff pastry. If you really want to though, you can make your own. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Try out our Fruity Beef Stew Recipe or Olive and Pesto Beef Burgers.

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