I based my beef Wellington off Gordon Ramsay's. His major innovation was to use a mushroom duxelle instead of a traditional pate. My innovation was to change the cut of meat from a fillet of beef which can run you up to $50, to a top rump. Incredibly, I picked up a 1.89kg slab of top rump for a measly $8, which was good as I had to feed NINE people in one sitting. I manged to feed everyone comfortably...for $8. This has to be some sort of record.
Making this thing is a little tricky, but is a sure way to please a dinner party. And the satisfaction of cutting into the pastry to reveal a perfectly rare steak inside is like the feeling a kid gets digging into a kinder egg times a thousand.
Go Get:
Top rump of Beef
400g of 'shrooms. I used a mixture of wild and chessnut purchased from the awesome Borough Street Market.
16 slices of prosciutto.
Splash of white wine.
1lb of Puff pastry.
2 Beaten eggs.
English mustard.
Flour for dusting.
The Action:
1. Be sure to trim off the excess fat on the beef using a sharp knife. Season with salt and pepper seal the beef on all sides in a frying pan with a little butter. As this is a large piece of meat, you might want to do this for 15 minutes. Turn your oven on.
2. Put your mushrooms into a blender and blend until in small chunks, not a smoothie.
3. Fry the mushrooms without using any oil or butter. Add some white wine and cook until all the water has been evaporated. This may take up to 15 mins.
4. Lay some clingfilm down on your countertop, and arrange the prosciutto slices into a sheet so each slice is overlapping. Spread your mushrooms evenly on top. Cover the beef all over with a nice coat of mustard. Roll your beef up like a cigarette and secure by twisting the ends of the clingfilm. Refrigerate for 20 mins.
5. Roll out your pastry and connect the different sheets by overlapping and pressing down with the back of a spoon. Unwrap your beef-mushroom-ham ball and place in the middle of your puff pastry. Spread the egg wash on the pastry either side of the beef and cover with pastry.
6. Score the pastry using the back of a knife and glaze using more egg wash. Season with salt and pepper and stick in the oven. It takes around 45 mins for a rare center, and 55 for medium-rare.
7. To serve, cut into inch thick slices. Be sure to use a really sharp knife or you risk making the whole thing collapse into a messy heap.
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