A Christmas classic, with a tiny truffle twist. Why play around with perfection?
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 950 g beef fillet
- 900 g spinach
- 12 slices prosciutto
- 1 pack puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
For the duxelles
- 30 g pack dried porcini mushrooms
- 25 g butter
- 500 g Portobellini mushrooms, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 tsp truffle oil (optional)
- 75 ml sherry
METHOD
1. Place the oil in a large pan and sear the beef on all sides until browned (around 1 minute on each side). Remove from the pan, cool and put in the fridge.
For the duxelles
1. Rehydrate the porcini mushrooms in 250 ml boiling water. Once rehydrated, drain (reserve the liquid) and chop finely.
2. Heat the butter in a large pan (you can use the same one as before) and fry the Portobellini mushrooms with thyme and rosemary. Once they have softened, and the liquid has evaporated, add porcini mushrooms and truffle oil (if using), and season well. Cook for 2 minutes. Pour over the sherry and spoon in 2 tbsp of the reserved mushroom liquid (you can discard the rest). Simmer for 8 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the pan and leave to cool.
3. Meanwhile, wilt the spinach with 1 tbsp water in a large pan. Drain and dry well – you can do this in a sieve using the back of a spoon to press the liquid out.
4 Place 2 lengths of cling wrap twice the width and length of the beef fillet onto a work surface or large board. Lay out the prosciutto, overlapping a little, in a rectangle large enough to coat the beef fillet. Spread out the well-dried spinach on top, followed by mushroom duxelles. You should have a thin layer of mixture on top of the prosciutto.
5. Next, place the beef fillet at the end of the prosciutto length and, using the cling wrap’s edges, tightly roll up the fillet in the prosciutto, and twist the ends of the cling wrap, to achieve a cracker- like effect. Chill for 20 minutes.
6 Roll out the pastry to around 5 mm thickness – it should be large enough to encase the beef fillet. Remove the fillet from the fridge and unwrap from the cling wrap. Place onto the centre of the pastry, trim any excess and wash the edges with the beaten egg, then bring them in to join together and encase the fillet. Seal the edges with a fork or using your fingers. Chill for 24 hours or at least 2 hours.
7. Heat the oven to 200°C. Brush the remaining egg over the pastry case and bake for 30–45 minutes (medium rare to medium). It should be golden and crisp. You can use a probe to check the core temperature (50°C for medium rare).
ALSO SEE MAPLE GLAZED TURKEY RECIPE
