BEEF WELLINGTON WITH A QUICK SALSA VERDE

Recipe and images courtesy of Alana Lowes.

Serves: 6 people | Prep Time: 1 hour | Cook: 2 hours + cooling times (1 hour-overnight)

INGREDIENTS
50g  butter
4 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
500g swiss brown or white button mushrooms, roughly chopped
3 golden shallot onions, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
5 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
½ tsp nutmeg
Salt and cracked pepper
2 tablespoons hot English mustard
100g pâté (we used Maggie Beer duck liver pâté)
1.5 kg rolled rib fillet roast
15 thin slices prosciutto 
1 sheet of puff pastry, large enough to encase the coated beef fillet (we used the Carême pastry brand)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1tsp sea salt flakes

QUICK SALSA VERDE
½ cup fresh parsley leaves
½ cup fresh dill
½ cup fresh basil leaves
1 small deseeded cucumber
1 large garlic cloves
3 tbsp capers
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sea salt flakes
½ tsp cracked black pepper
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

METHOD
To make the mushroom mixture, add butter and half the olive oil to a large sauté pan and place over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, golden shallot onions and garlic and sauté for 8 to 10 mins until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and stir through the thyme leaves and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

To prepare the beef, mix the hot English mustard and pâté together to combine. Set aside. Place a frying pan over a high heat. Season the beef generously with salt and pepper and drizzle over the remaining olive oil. Place the beef into the hot pan and sear on all sides, turning for 6-8 mins or until browned all over. Transfer the meat to a clean baking tray and brush all over with the hot English mustard and pâté mixture. Set aside to cool.

Next, lay out your prosciutto on a sheet of plastic wrap on top of your cutting board (plastic needs to be about 50cm in length so you can wrap and tie the beef up in it). Lay the prosciutto to form a rectangle big enough to roll around the entire fillet of beef. Spread the mushroom mixture over the prosciutto. Roll up the beef fillet in the mushroom covered prosciutto using the plastic wrap to tie it up nice and tight. Tuck in the ends of the prosciutto as you roll to completely encase the beef. Roll it up tightly in plastic wrap and twist the ends to seal it completely and hold it in a nice log shape. Set the beef wellington in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or overnight if desired) to ensure it maintains its shape.

Preheat oven to 200 °C fan forced and prepare a baking tray lined with a baking sheet.

Lay out your defrosted pastry sheet. Depending on the size of your sheets you may have to overlap 2 sheets and press them together. Remove beef wellington from refrigerator, remove the plastic cover. Place the beef on the short end of the pastry and roll up to enclose tightly, brushing with egg wash to seal. Trim ends if necessary then brush with egg wash and fold over to completely seal the beef. Decorate with any trimmed pastry if desired. Place the beef parcel in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to firm up. Remove and brush with egg and sprinkle with sea salt flakes.

Place the beef wellington parcel in the hot oven and bake for 1hr – 1hr 15min for medium rare or until the internal temperature on a meat thermometer reads 58°C. Remove from the oven and set aside to rest for 10-15 mins.

While the beef is cooking and resting, put make the salsa verde. Place all ingredients into a food processor and process until chopped and combined. Retain some of the chunkiness. Adjust seasoning as needed and add extra olive oil if the mixture needs some loosening.

To serve the beef wellington, slice into thick slices and serve with roasted carrots and salsa verde.

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