Beef Wellington

I had a whole fillet which I bought cheaply because it was 'damaged'.  It had been badly butchered and had bad cuts in all the wrong places.  I decided to make a Beef Wellington out of it as I hadn't made one for over a year and I had an experiment I wanted to try.

The fillet  had a classic taper down to a very thin point at one end so I folded it under itself to provide an even shape.   The fillet ended up being 35- 40cm long after being folded and compressed slightly in length.

This fold and the damage to the fillet made it impossible to sear as if I had seared the meat, it would never have held its shape.  Instead I wrapped it very tightly in tinfoil and roasted in a 230 degree oven for around 15 - 20 minutes.  It was then cooled and chilled in a fridge until required.  The tinfoil used during the roasting and chilling process helps the fillet hold its shape after it is unwrapped which makes for easier handling during assembly.

The fillet after roasting and chilling.

The next step was to make duxelles - finely chopped mushrooms, shallots/onion, herbs etc. sauteed and then cooked down to a paste.  This involved chopping a lot of mushrooms.  A LOT of mushrooms! Don't ask me how many or the weight of them.  I just kept chopping until it looked like I had enough.  I'm a very casual cook when it comes to these things.

I threw a bit of sherry in to the mix as well and added my experimental ingredient - about 200 grams of very finely chopped Harrington's Black Pudding - near the end of cooking.

Camille loathes black pudding.  She can't stand the texture of it and isn't overly fond of the flavour either.  I'm astounded by this and have a (mild) mission now.  My aim is to introduce her to black pudding in other ways which disguise the texture and blend its flavour so it enhances other ingredients. 

Once the duxelles were cool I mixed them with a bit of pate which helps bind the mixture.  This was then chilled.

The next step was to spread my shop bought pastry sheets out and size them.  I know I should make my own pastry but pastry is an unknown thing to me.  I have never mastered making pastry and break into a sweat at the thought of it.  

The chilled duxelle/pate mix was spread over the pastry in a roughly even layer.  Some was kept aside to place on top of the fillet to ensure it was properly covered.  The fillet was placed on the duxelles and the reminder of the mixture was spread over the top.

 

After being further trimmed to size, the pastry was folded over the top of the fillet and sealed - edges brushed with milk and pinched together.  This gets a bit tricky as you don't want to disturb the look of the dish too much.  Thick, lumpy pastry seams aren't attractive.   Once the Wellington was sealed I rolled it onto a flat roasting pan.  Rolling is a very good option as attempting to lift a large Wellington is likely to end in disaster - at least if I'm doing it.  More proficient people may be able to do this sort of thing.  I am not going to go there though.

My photographer completely failed to get a shot of the dish prior to it going in the oven!

I had the oven pre-heated to between 210 and 220 degrees.  The fillet was given a quick brush with an egg beaten with a little water and then placed in the oven.  Ideally it should stay in the oven until the pastry is golden brown all over.  However, I was a little worried about the state of the fillet as I felt I had left it in the oven a bit too long earlier and didn't want to over do it.  This is where chilling the meat before wrapping it in pastry helps as it slows the cooking process.  As you can see, the pastry is slightly underdone.

 

Note the mad decorative bits made from left over pastry.  Not the best decorations but it is a tradition in this household that any meaty pastry dish must be decorated.  In the past Beef Wellingtons (and pies) have come out of the oven covered in flowers, names, hearts (on Camille's birthday), odd geometric shapes, city scapes, vast scenic bas reliefs of well known mountain ranges and so on.  My brother helped with the decoration and because we were hurrying a bit at this stage we limited ourselves to just throwing thin pastry strips topped with a pastry pile.

Unfortunately one of the seams leaked slightly during the time in the oven and so the Wellington was stuck to the at one end.  I wasn't game to attempt remove it from the pan and onto a platter so it was sliced where it sat.

The first cut:  The fillet is just right (in my opinion) - just off rare.  If I had left the dish in the oven any longer the beef would have been over done.  The duxelles have slumped slightly so there is a bit of thick layer on the side of the beef.  This is because I didn't fold the pastry over quite tightly enough.  It also probably wasn't helped my rolling the fillet into the pan.  Smaller fillets are much easier to manage!

The black pudding gave the duxelles an extra depth.  The dish had a much more 'earthy' flavour than it usually does. Spike (my brother) says it was great improvement as he finds the usual duxelle/pate paste to be a bit cloying, almost sweet in some peoples' Beef Wellingtons. All who ate it enjoyed it, including Camille who exclaimed she couldn't taste the black pudding.  Blended flavours that enhance each other!  That's a success!

Dinner

Last night's dinner was a very simple but excellent meal. I took the thick end of a piece of whole fillet and marinated it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Salt was sprinkled over it and lots of black pepper was ground on. I then cut some potatoes into bite sized pieces and thoroughly washing the starch out of them and leaving them to soak while the oven heated to 230 celcius.

Once the oven was up to heat the potatos were tossed in olive oil and put into roast. I then heated a heavy cast iron pan up and put some oil in. The oil was just off the smoke point. The fillet was seared on every side and then put into roast for about 15-20 minutes - just over rare. The pan was cooled and then deglazed with the remains of Squawking Magpie Syrah and the remains of the marinade.

Once the fillet was done it was removed and left to rest for 10 minutes. During this time I cut up onion, red and green peppers and some very clean button mushrooms. These were then tossed in olive oil on a high heat. In between tossings, I sliced the meat and finished the sauce with a bit of cream. The tossed vegetables were arranged on a bed of rocket. A few slices of beef with the sauce and a few potatoes completed the place.

I do enjoy a good piece of beef.

Mmmm... Beef!

A week ago Camille and I headed to Levin for Camille's brother's 50th birthday. I have half a beef walking around in the brother's back paddock so while there I took the opportunity to check out my side of beef and and it looks like it was checking me out in return. It's looking pretty good to my uneducated eye. Can't wait for slaughter day!

Saturday night's dinner: Whole Rump

We had a few people around for dinner on Saturday night. I had wanted to cook the meal on an open fire at the back of the property but it being winter, wet and cold I decided to do it indoors instead. Camille had quite a bit of input into this decision. She isn't into being cold and wet even if there is a good fire to stand around.

We did a simple meal: French onion soup topped with gruyere cheese on homemade bread floaters to start with, followed by a whole beef rump cooked in a camp oven and accompanied by thyme roasted potatoes and a silverbeet/ricotta cheese tart.

The soup was basically onions, a bottle of reasonable white (reduced down), a splash of cognac and a couple of litres of chicken stock. Very simple and easy to make. Its topping was bread (made earlier in the day and then dried in the oven) covered with grated gruyere. Individual servings were ladled out and then placed under the grill to melt the cheese.

The beef rump weighed about four kilograms. I tied it with string to compact it and make a more even shape. It was then seared in the camp oven which had been heated to VERY hot on a large gas element. 6 large onions were quartered and sauteed in the bottom of the much cooler camp oven. 10 garlic cloves were peeled and added whole. A couple of carrots were put in to help keep the meat off the base of the oven. Lots of pepper and some salt went in as well. The meat was added, fat side up. The gaps between the meat the and walls of the camp oven were then filled with about a kilogram of whole button mushrooms. A large tied bunch of fresh thyme, rosemary and margoram was put in. A bottle of a good red wine was then added. More salt and pepper and, finally, a mix of mustard, tomato paste and a little more red wine was poured over the top of the beef.

Once the beef was up to speed, the lid was put on and the camp oven was moved onto the smallest gas element and left to cook for the next four hours VERY SLOWLY. It was turned a couple of times but for the most part it was left alone.

The potatoes were a waxy red variety, halved lengthways. The cut surfaces were brushed with olive oil and then sprinkled with thyme to cover them. They were then placed cut side down in a roasting pan which had a smear of olive oil on its base. The tops of the potatoes were then brushed with oil and sprinkled with salt. The pan was then placed in a 200 degree (celcius) oven for a bit over one hour.

The tart was simply chopped silverbeet, ricotta mixed with eggs, pepper and a bit of salt, some finely chopped onion and garlic. This was all combined and put into a flan dish (no pastry for this one) and put in the oven for about 50 minutes.

The beef came out very, very dark, well cooked but very, very tender. I removed it from the camp oven and covered it with tin foil and left it for half an hour while the liquid was reduced and then thickened slightly with a bit of arrowroot. This cooking method makes a very rich,flavoursome sauce/gravy. The mushrooms don't shrink away to nothing and they keep their texture - as in they aren't horrible squishy bits of mush. The onions mostly disappear. The carrots get discarded. Once the beef is sliced and arranged on a serving platter, the mushrooms and remnants of the onions are ladled out over the top of it along with some of the sauce. The rest of the sauce is served in a jug.

We ended up eating the main around 9:00pm. An excellent meal for a winter's night.