Boeuf en Croute – Beef Wellington
Fillet steak is expensive but for that very special occasion where you want to impress your guests, it makes a very attractive and delicious main course, wrapped in pastry with a mushroom and onion stuffing.
For the quick flaky pastry see the recipe on this site. Make the pastry first and pop in a polythene bag and place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 175c
Meanwhile trim the beef of any sinew and excess fat.
Brush it all over with some brandy and rub butter into the meat place on a roasting tin and cook for approx 25 minutes in the halogen oven, if you need a well cooked piece of meat, give it a little longer. However, please remember that this will be cooked in the pastry so do not over cook. Remove from the oven and let it cool till nearly cold.
For the filling:
- 2 oz butter
- 1 Spanish onion
- 12 oz of mushrooms
- freshly grated nutmeg
Chop the onions and mushrooms until very fine.
Melt the butter in a pan, stir the onion into the butter and cook for 5 minutes.
Stir in the mushrooms with the onions and cook for 25 minutes which should leave a concentrated mixture.
Preheat the oven to 200c
Roll out the pastry into a rectangle to the required size you need, place half the onion and mushroom mixture on the pastry.
Place the beef on the top of the mixture, and place the remaining mixture on the beef.
Roll the pastry onto the beef, brush the pastry and seal the edges, brush the remaining pastry with the egg mixture.
Place the beef on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes making sure the pastry does not burn.
Please ensure that you cook your veg on the lower rack for 15-20 minutes prior to cooking the beef, and finish the veg while the meat and pastry are cooking.
Use the juices from the cooked meat for your sauce.
The picture above is from what we cooked last night, and it turned out very well.
© Chef Eric
Posted on 02/01/2010
