Procedure

The day before preparing the Beef Wellington, wrap the fillet in cling film, as tight as possible, so that it stays in shape and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

BREAKING THE FILLET - The next day, sprinkle the fillet with fine salt (you can also add a little mustard) and massage it over the entire surface. Put a little extra virgin olive oil in a pan and brown the meat on all sides over a very high heat., until the surface has a golden appearance. This operation should take a maximum of 5 minutes, so that the meat remains raw inside.

Remember to set aside the pan with the meat juices and oil, because you will need this stock to prepare the wine sauce. Place the meat on a plate and let it cool completely. Little by little you will see that the meat will release juices: set them aside for the sauce.

FOR THE MUSHROOM DUXELLES - Clean the mushrooms and chop them finely with a knife (don't even think about blending them!). Put a drizzle of olive oil in the pan and sauté them in a pan over high heat with salt, thyme and black pepper. You will see that the mushrooms will release some liquid: it is important to continue cooking over a high heat ( it will take about 10 minutes) until this liquid has completely evaporated. You will have to get some sort of mushroom pâté, soft but dry. Place it in a bowl and let it cool completely.

COMPOSITION OF THE WELLINGTON FILLET - Place cling film on the work surface, enough to wrap the fillet once ready. Arrange the slices of raw ham on the film, slightly overlapping as you see in the RECIPE VIDEO: they must be wide enough to wrap the fillet. Spread the cold mushroom duxelles over the ham in an even layer.

Place the fillet on one end and wrap it in the ham as tightly as possible. It should be entirely surrounded by the ham and the mushroom duxelles. Wrap it tightly in cling film and let it cool tightly wrapped for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

CREATION OF THE CRUST - When the fillet is cold, place the first roll of puff pastry on the work surface, remove the cling film and place the fillet on the end of the puff pastry. Roll it up on itself and seal the edges so that it is entirely surrounded by the puff pastry. You may have to cut out the rectangle of the ready-made pastry so that it is enough to wrap the meat. Brush the pastry with the egg yolk beaten with a little milk.

Take the second roll of puff pastry, practice of oblong or diamond-shaped incisions as you see in RECIPE VIDEO and overlap it with the pastry on the top of the fillet. Brush everything with the beaten egg. This double crust is both decorative, because you will get a honeycomb effect on the fillet, is functional to greater protection of the meat from cooking. Place the beef Wellington in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes.

FOR WINE SAUCE - While the crusted fillet cools, prepare the wine sauce. In the pan in which you browned the meat, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, the butter and the chopped shallot. Brown everything for a few minutes and, when the onion is translucent and golden, add the red wine. Let it blend and, when the wine has reduced slightly, add the beef broth and the juices that you will have collected from the meat while it rested.

Add some salt, freshly ground black pepper, a bay leaf and thyme and leave to simmer over a low heat until the sauce becomes thick and creamy. It will take at least 40 minutes, so make yourself comfortable. Once ready, Add salt if necessary and then filter the sauce to remove onion and aromatic herb residues. It must be shiny and dense.

COOKING BEEF FILLETT WELLINGTON STYLE - Preheat the oven to 200 degrees static and cook the beef fillet for about 25 minutes. Obviously this way you won't be sure of the cooking of the meat. But if you placed a probe-type kitchen thermometer at the heart of the fillet, it will tell you when the temperature has reached 50 degrees at the core. At that moment the pastry will be golden and crunchy and the meat rare: Remove the beef from the oven and let it cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing the fillet.

Reheat the wine sauce, cut the beef Wellington fillet into rather thick slices and serve with the wine sauce. Bon appétit!