European · Main · From the menu Sobremesa
Beef Wellington, heritage carrot, Madeira, truffle
Solomillo Wellington, zanahoria, Madeira, trufa
Whole fillet seared, painted with mustard, wrapped in a dry duxelles and crêpes rather than ham, and baked in puff pastry. Madeira sauce, glazed carrots, truffle at the table.
The crêpe is not a quirk: three of the five chefs I read use one and only two use prosciutto, and the ham salts the whole thing. Worth knowing that nobody actually writes down that the barrier is there to stop a soggy base, however often it is repeated. What they do write down is the temperature, and there the useful consensus is 49 to 52 degrees in the middle. One published recipe says 32, which is a restaurant pull temperature, and another says 65, which is medium-well whatever it is labelled.
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg centre-cut beef fillet, trimmed and tied
- 500 g chestnut mushrooms and 25 g dried porcini
- 2 shallots and 2 cloves garlic
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 50 g butter and 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 thin savoury crêpes
- 500 g all-butter puff pastry
- 2 egg yolks beaten with a splash of cream, to glaze
- For the sauce: 100 ml Madeira, 650 ml beef stock, 1 shallot
- 12 heritage carrots and 1 tbsp honey
- Fresh truffle to finish, salt, pepper
Method
- Season the fillet heavily and sear it in a smoking hot pan on every surface, turning every minute or two, for about eight to ten minutes in total. It should be dark all over. Chill it for twenty to thirty minutes, then brush it all over with the mustard.
- Blitz the mushrooms, shallots and garlic to a fine crumb. Cook in the butter and oil with the thyme over a medium heat for eight to twelve minutes, until it forms a paste that comes away from the side of the pan. That is the test the chefs give, and it is a better one than a clock. Cool completely.
- Lay clingfilm on the bench, lay the crêpes down overlapping, spread the duxelles over them in an even layer about half a centimetre thick, and sit the fillet on top. Use the film to roll it into a tight cylinder. Twist the ends and refrigerate at least thirty minutes, and overnight if you have the time.
- Roll the pastry to about half a centimetre. Unwrap the cylinder onto it, egg wash the edges, and roll it up with the seam underneath. Trim and seal the ends. Chill thirty minutes more.
- Glaze all over with the yolk, score the top lightly, sprinkle with salt, and chill again while the oven heats.
- Bake at 220 °C for ten minutes, then drop to 200 °C for about thirty. Use a probe: pull it at 49 to 52 °C in the centre for rare to medium-rare, and do not go by time alone.
- Rest fifteen minutes before slicing. This is not optional.
- Sauce: reduce the Madeira with the chopped shallot to a syrup, add the stock and reduce by a quarter to a half, until it is the consistency of a thin gravy.
- Glaze the carrots in a little butter, honey and water until tender and shiny. Slice the Wellington thick, sauce around it, and shave truffle over at the table.
Serve it with. A good red with some age, and no more than one other course before it. The tartare uses the tail of the same fillet.