Beef Wellington - A recipe by Brighton’s Phil Bartley

Beef Wellington, a classic dish with complex flavours but super easy to cook and serve once prepared.

It makes a great alternative to a Sunday roast, hitting all the spots with luxurious, tender meat encased with crispy puff pastry.

The key to a good beef Wellington is the calibre of the meat.

If you can afford to, it’s worth sourcing some locally produced, fine fillet beef.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

800g 28 day aged beef fillet

500g All butter puff pastry (pre rolled)

Mushroom duxelle

500g Chestnut mushrooms diced

500g baby spinach washed

3 cloves garlic

2 sprigs thyme

100g butter

Crepe mix

6 eggs

150g milk

150g flour

Pinch of dried parsley

Method:

1. Preheat a large heavy based frying pan on a high heat whilst you season the beef all over with Maldon sea salt.

2. Pour a good lug of oil into the pan, then sear the beef for four minutes in total, turning regularly with tongs, then remove to a plate and chill in the fridge.

3. Next, prepare the crepes by combining eggs, milk, flour and a pinch of dried parsley in a large bowl and mix until smooth. Then fry off the crepes and leave to chill.

4. Now, for the mushroom duxelle, foam your butter in a medium hot pan and add in your garlic and thyme.

Then add in the mushrooms, roast until golden brown, and season with salt and pepper.

5. Take the pan off the heat removing the garlic and thyme, then blitz the mushrooms until they form a rough paste.

6. Then lightly saute and season the spinach in a pan and dry in a sieve, fold this into the mushroom paste and leave to chill.

7. Now, cover the beef fillet with mushroom spinach mix then roll in crepes.

8. Roll this in your puff pastry overlapping your pastry to form a seal and brush all over with an egg wash.

9. Preheat oven to 200°C and cook the wellington for 10 minutes to start with.

Then reduce the heat to 180°C and continue cooking for a further 25 minutes, making sure to probe till the

meat reaches 50°C.

10. Once the Wellington is cooked, remove from oven and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

11. Carve and serve with red wine jus, potatoes and seasonal greens.

Phil Bartley is a local chef and also runs The Great British Charcuterie. Phil’s food can be found at Hove Place, The Cricketers, The Cleveland Arms, and others around Brighton and Hove.

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