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Beef Wellington

Recipes »  Main Dish  »  Roasts

Gordon Ramsay's recipe makes the perfect prepare-ahead Christmas Day main course, a show-stopping alternative to turkey.

"Excellent dish. The recipe was easy to follow, and the pictures of the duxelles was very helpful. Next time I will cut up the mushroom finer. This recipe is to die for!" - mpau0516

Yield: 6 Ready in 1 hours, 40 minutes

Cuisine: EnglishMain Ingredient: Beef

(4.4, 7) 71% would make again (reviews)

Favorite 353 people favorited
Try Soon169 people trying soon

Beef Wellington
Definitely an impressive dish! Perfect for any special occasion! photo by sgrishka Give a medal for this photo
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Servings          
Original recipe makes 6
1 kgbeef fillet; preferably Aberdeen Angus
3 tbspolive oil
250 gchestnut mushrooms; include some wild ones if you like
50 gButter
1 large sprigfresh thyme
100 mlDry white wine
12 slicesprosciutto
1 500-g packpuff pastry; thawed if frozen
1 qtyflour; for dusting
2 singleegg yolks; beaten with 1 tsp water

Beef Wellington Preparation

Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Sit the beef on a roasting tray, brush with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with pepper, then roast for 15 mins for medium-rare or 20 mins for medium. When the beef is cooked to your liking, remove from the oven to cool, then chill in the fridge for about 20 mins.

While the beef is cooling, chop the mushrooms as finely as possible so they have the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. You can use a food processor to do this, but make sure you pulse-chop the mushrooms so they don't become a slurry.

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil and all the butter in a large pan and fry the mushrooms on a medium heat, with the thyme sprig, for about 10 mins stirring often, until you have a softened mixture. Season the mushroom mixture, pour over the wine and cook for about 10 mins until all the wine has been absorbed. The mixture should hold its shape when stirred. Remove the mushroom duxelle from the pan to cool and discard the thyme.

Overlap two pieces of cling film over a large chopping board. Lay the prosciutto on the cling film, slightly overlapping, in a double row. Spread half the duxelles over the prosciutto, then sit the fillet on it and spread the remaining duxelles over. Use the cling film's edges to draw the prosciutto around the fillet, then roll it into a sausage shape, twisting the ends of cling film to tighten it as you go. Chill the fillet while you roll out the pastry.

Roll out a third of the pastry to a 18 x 30cm strip and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Roll out the remaining pastry to about 28 x 36cm. Unravel the fillet from the cling film and sit it in the centre of the smaller strip of pastry and brush the pastry's edges, and the top and sides of the wrapped fillet, with beaten egg yolk. Using a rolling pin, carefully lift and drape the larger piece of pastry over the fillet, pressing well into the sides. Trim the joins to about a 4cm rim. Seal the rim with the edge of a fork or spoon handle. Glaze all over with more egg yolk and, using the back of a knife, mark the beef Wellington with long diagonal lines taking care not to cut into the pastry. Chill for at least 30 mins and up to 24 hrs.

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Brush the Wellington with a little more egg yolk and cook until golden and crisp - 20-25 mins for medium-rare beef, 30 mins for medium. Allow to stand for 10 mins before serving in thick slices.

Notes

Sealing the pastry

Use the rounded end of a fork or spoon handle to seal the edges rather than the prongs of a fork - using the prongs will only pierce the pastry rather than joining it.

Keep it air-free

Drape over the top layer of pastry very carefully, smoothing it down with your hands as you go. You don't want any air trapped between the pastry and the meat.

Trim carefully

Lower the chances of the edges separating by giving yourself lots of room - and don't trim the pastry too close to the meat.

Gordon's tips

Brush the meat as well as the pastry with egg wash. This will make the top layer of pastry stick to the meat and stop it from rising and leaving a gap.

Use up leftover pastry

Any leftover pastry is fine to use for something else, even if covered in egg. Simply roll it into a ball and refrigerate until needed.

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  • Definitely an impressive dish! Perfect for any special occasion! photo by sgrishka sgrishka

  • Mushroom duxelles spread over prosciutto slices. photo by sgrishka sgrishka

  • Calories Per Serving: 1269
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    Beef Wellington Reviews

    Give it a rating Would you make it again?   [please sign in to add your comment]
    2 months, 2 weeks, 1 days, 23 hours, ago
    4 months, 4 weeks, 15 hours, 37 minutes ago
    1 years, 5 months, 1 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours, 31 minutes ago
    Thanks Danpa, lovely easy to follow recipe and my family loved it! Also really enjoyed your Babotie... Being a South African, it was the best I've ever had!
    1 years, 5 months, 2 weeks, 2 days, 10 hours, 41 minutes ago
    Excellent dish. The recipe was easy to follow, and the pictures of the duxelles was very helpful. Next time I will cut up the mushroom finer. This recipe is to die for!
    2 years, 1 weeks, 4 days, 10 hours, 43 minutes ago
    I decided to try this Gordon Ramsay version of Beef Wellington because it is made without either the traditional foie gras or pâté de foie gras. In place of the foie gras this recipe uses slices of prosciutto that are slathered with the mushroom duxelles and then wrapped around the beef tenderloin. The recipe steps were easy to follow, not too terribly difficult but a bit time consuming. However, the results were outstanding and well worth the effort required. The dish looked beautiful, was cooked perfectly medium rare, tasted great, and was decadent and luxurious. Everybody loved it including the kids who hate mushrooms. We didn't tell them until after dinner what the duxelles were.
    3 years, 2 months, 5 days, 20 hours, 58 minutes ago
    Sealing the pastry
    Use the rounded end of a fork or spoon handle to seal the edges rather than the prongs of a fork - using the prongs will only pierce the pastry rather than joining it.
    Keep it air-free
    Drape over the top layer of pastry very carefully, smoothing it down with your hands as you go. You don't want any air trapped between the pastry and the meat.
    Trim carefully
    Lower the chances of the edges separating by giving yourself lots of room - and don't trim the pastry too close to the meat.
    Gordon's tips
    Brush the meat as well as the pastry with egg wash. This will make the top layer of pastry stick to the meat and stop it from rising and leaving a gap.
    Use up leftover pastry
    Any leftover pastry is fine to use for something else, even if covered in egg. Simply roll it into a ball and refrigerate until needed.
    [I posted this recipe.]
    4 years, 8 months, 5 days, 14 hours, 15 minutes ago

    Tags

    1. Christmas
    2. Roast
    3. Bake
    4. Main Dish
    5. Beef
    6. English
    7. Dinner
    8. Winter
    9. Bold
    10. bccNMQQwbAfiTJlvx

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