Writing for the February edition of a magazine, the thought process was Shrove Tuesday. A tenuous link admittedly but the dish does
have pancakes in it...
Shrove Tuesday is historically a day of feasting before Ash Wednesday
and the period of Lent. Pancakes are a tradition
on this day (being one to eat lots of fat in preparation for fasting) and
personally I can think of nothing better than feasting on a lovely Beef
Wellington. If you make plenty of
pancakes (or buy them), you can always do the Pancake Day thing as well and
serve them as pudding with oranges and sugar.
1.5kg Beef Fillet (trimmed, left whole)
3 thin Pancakes
250g finely chopped Mushrooms (shitake, oyster and chestnut work well)
2 Shallots (finely chopped)
1 tsp Thyme
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
6 Juniper Berries
Sea Salt & Pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh Parsley
1 pack Puff Pastry
10g Butter
Olive Oil
1 tbsp Crème Fraiche
1 tbsp Marsala Wine or Dry Sherry
Egg Wash (for glazing)
Marinade the beef. In a pestle
and mortar, grind the juniper berries with the salt, pepper, thyme leaves,
parsley and garlic. Add a drizzle of
olive oil and mix to a thick paste. Rub
over the entire beef fillet and leave at room temperature for 1 hour.
Sauté the shallots in the butter and a drizzle of olive oil until softened
but not brown. Add the mushrooms and
cook for a few minutes. Add the marsala
wine and cook until evaporated, add the crème fraiche and season to taste. Cook until you have a thick pate like
consistency. Remove from the heat and
leave to cool.
Take the beef and brown all sides in a frying pan quickly (you are not
trying to cook it at this stage). Place
in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes covered with foil. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
When all the ingredients have cooled to room temperature, assemble the
wellington.
Roll out the puff pastry to a size which will cover the entire
fillet. Brush the edges with egg wash
and lay the pancakes down the middle of the pastry. Spread the mushroom mixture over the pancakes
and the pastry leaving a 2 cm edge all around.
Place the fillet of beef on top in the centre and roll up the pastry
around the fillet and seal. Up end the
wellington so the seal is underneath and brush all over with egg wash. Place on a baking tray and refrigerate until
ready to cook or for at least 1 hour.
Place in a hot oven (210 degrees) for 25 minutes (rare) to 35 minutes
(medium) or until golden brown and risen. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10
minutes before carving.
The resting is important as it
will allow the meat to relax and the juices to go back into the beef and
tenderise the meat.
