Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, was named after Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, the very same personality that gave this dish its identity, the acclaimed beef Wellington. The similarity ends there. Beef Wellington is considered internationally the height of culinary cooking, while Wellington NZ by all accounts has achieved less acclaim, with Auckland around the world more often than not being confused with windy Wellington as New Zealand’s capital city.
Now before we get into the crafting of this outstanding dish, you should be aware that there is now a ‘Beef Wellington Kit’ available for purchase online, produced and marketed by Super Chef Gordon Ramsay (not yet available in the antipodes); maybe you should push for it. Chef Ramsay considers the beef Wellington to be one of his signature dishes and has several good YouTube videos, without expletives, showing how you can bang it together in less than five minutes. The videos are well worth watching, being both instructive and clear. You can’t go wrong with his step by step production of this dish. Chapeau to Chef Ramsay.
The previous column already contains the full recipe to make mille feuille (no need to repeat here). It is the same recipe for both savoury and sweet. Just a note for the Kosher Keepers or lactose intolerant amongst you: I substitute margarine for butter when using the mille feuille with meat or when I don’t want dairy in it. Mille feuille made using butter substitutes is almost as good as the real thing. Almost!
Beef Wellington: (Enough to Feed 8 People)
The beef Wellington is a bit like a big fancy sausage roll. The big difference between the two is the cut of meat. The Wellington uses one of the most expensive and delicate cuts, the fillet of beef (Beef Tenderloin), and the sausage roll uses all the left overs, swept up from the butchery floor and ground up into a grey mass.
To accentuate the flavours and really make a layered and intense tasting experience the tenderloin of beef is wrapped in a layer of prosciutto and duxelles (finely chopped mushrooms fried off to remove all liquid) before being encased in the mille feuille. Being a Heb. I exchange the prosciutto for thin slices of smoked duck breast, retaining that cured smokey hint and not taking away from the overall flavour.
While the beef Wellington is a meal in itself, to give it company and colour on the plate I usually serve it with steamed greens tossed in olive oil and lemon and simple white basmati rice.
Ingredients:
- Beef tenderloin x 1.2 – 1.5 kg
- Portobello mushrooms x 2 punnets
- Thinly sliced prosciutto or smoked duck breast x 250 gram
- Hot English mustard
- Egg yolk x 2
- Cracked black pepper
- Coarse sea salt
- Shluk of olive oil
Method:
First, either chop the mushrooms very very small or place them in a food processor and pulse until they are almost a mulch. Put them into a hot fry pan without oil, add a pinch of salt and a few twists of pepper, stir and toss them until all the liquid has evaporated and they are almost dry. Set aside to cool.
Second, take the fillet, if not trimmed and cleaned by the butcher or from the supermarket, trim off any excess fat or cut ends so that it is a tube of same approximate thickness. You don’t need expensive fresh fillet for this; you can buy frozen, which is usually half the price, and defrost in fridge from the day before. Put coarse salt and cracked pepper all over the fillet and put it into a very hot pan with olive oil to close and brown the meat on all sides including the ends. Remove from pan, lavishly rub English mustard all over the portion of meat and set aside.
Third, place the prosciutto or smoked duck on a large square of cling wrap in a large rectangular shape, spread the duxelles over the prosciutto, then place the fillet on the duxelles on the edge closest to you, and roll up using the cling wrap to keep everything tight and together. Close tight at both ends and tighten to create a large sausage. Twist the two ends of cling wrap in opposite directions to tighten the bundle.
Fourth, roll out a flour-dusted 30 x 30 cm square of mille feuille to a thickness of 3 mm. Take a brush and brush the surface of the dough with egg yolk, place the piece of tenderloin sausage on the edge of the dough closest to you and tightly roll. Cut off excess dough where the join is, fold in the sides, again removing excess dough. Make sure all joins are tightly closed, then brush the outside of the dough with egg yolk, and using the back of the knife, lightly scour the surface to create attractive patterns in the dough when baked.
Place on a baking tray on baking paper, into a 200 Celsius preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit for ten minutes then slice with a very sharp knife. It should be nice and pink in the middle and crispy around the edges. If you prefer medium-well meat bake for another 5-10 minutes.
Steamed asparagus, wash, cut the bottom 5 cm off stems, using a steamer, steam for 4 minutes, remove to a bowl, squeeze the juice of half a lemon, a shluk of olive oil, coarse sea salt and pepper to taste; toss and serve.
Basmati white rice: take the recipe from my previous post on moussaka. (Click on my name and it will take you to previous posts).
Shavuot is one of the three pilgrim festivals in the Jewish calendar. It celebrates both the giving of the ‘Law’ – Old Testament or Bible – to the Jewish people at Mt Sinai and also the early harvesting of crops in spring. During Shavuot it is customary to eat dairy products for the festive feast rather than meat.
Next week’s column is going to be a ‘Garden of Eden’ baked cheesecake, a simple and tasty creation which could only have been a ‘Divine’ recipe handed down from above and passed on from generation to generation by Adam and Eve.
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