Christmas Beef Wellington

from Wokingham Local Magazine Issue 11 - December 2022

Tandoori Turkey

The ultimate indulgence...

Ingredients

Beef fillet 1 kg, English mustard 30 g, Chestnut mushrooms 700 g, Chestnuts 100 g, Fresh thyme 10 g, 8 slices of Parma ham, 1 sheet of puff pastry, 1 egg, Olive oil, Salt & Pepper

Method

Beef Wellington has to be the ultimate indulgence during your Christmas dinner. Start with the beef fillet, and the important thing is to sear it first. Season your fillet with salt and pepper, then take a hot pan, pour some olive oil and place the beef into the pan and fry the beef until it is nicely coloured. Take the beef out of the pan and place on the plate. Then, slightly brush your beef with English mustard, as this gives a bit of a heat. While the beef fillet is resting, prepare the filling. Take 700 g of chestnut mushrooms and place them into the blender, and add a chopped clove of garlic. Season with salt and pepper and blitz. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without chestnuts, so next add 100 g of chestnuts to the mushrooms and blitz again. Once the mixture is finally chopped, cook it in a hot dry pan. This removes the water from the mushrooms and intensifies the flavor. Add 10 g of fresh thyme. When all the liquid is dried off, remove the filling from the pan and leave to cool. Next, start assembling the Wellington. Stage one is wrapping the beef fillet. Place the kitchen film over the board. Put 8 slices of Parma ham on the kitchen film. Add a little touch of pepper. Then, spread your mushroom filling over the Parma ham. Use the back of the spoon to spread it nice and thinly. Then, lay the beef on top and very carefully fold that over. Wrap the beef nicely and carefully. Push and roll it nice and tight. The tighter it is the more perfect the shape. Then, place the beef into the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up. Once it is set, it is ready for the final wrap. Place your kitchen film on the board and put the puff pastry on to it. Put your beef in the center and very carefully roll the puff pastry over the beef until two edges meet. Trim off the excess pastry and twist the ends together to ensure that the beef is completely sealed in its pastry case. To give the pastry a golden-brown color when it bakes, brush it with an egg yolk. Sprinkle some salt over the pastry, to ensure it becomes lovely and crispy. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for around 35 minutes. When ready, let your Wellington rest for 10 minutes. There you go – the best Christmas Beef Wellington, ever. Serve with: green beans, brussell sprouts with chestnuts, carrot puree, crispy roast potatoes, and gravy – or red wine jus? Well, it is Christmas!

2019 SURREY BUTCHER OF THE YEAR

Festive Meats

We re-homed to Squires Garden Centre, Heathlands Rd in 2021 where we are open 7 days a week. There is plenty of free parking plus take advantage of all the other fantastic produce available in the food hall. It’s our second Christmas in Wokingham and we will again be stocking free range Bronze turkeys from a 5th generation farmer in Faversham. The birds are slow to mature and game hung for an unbeatable flavour. Whole birds, crowns and rolled breast! Alongside the birds we will have our incredible grass fed dry aged beef, free range pork joints, beef wellingtons, pigs in blankets, sausage meat and even homemade gravy! Plus lots lots more! We’ve even got you covered for Boxing Day with smoked and unsmoked gammons.