Rachel Allen's Beef Wellington, dauphinoise potatoes and green beans with pine nuts
More than a year ago, I watched Episode 5 of Rachel Allen's Dinner Parties where she helped a regular cook prepare a fantastic dinner party entree and main course for friends. The main course was beef wellington served with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans. I've never eaten beef wellington before, so when the dinner guests claimed that the beef wellington was the best meal they have ever tasted for a dinner party meal, this beef wellington dish became one of my cooking missions. Finally, after waiting for so long, I was able to spend my Saturday cooking this dish. I have to be honest, the beef wellington I made tasted average, not mind blowing, my husband and I decided to add some tomato sauce as the wellington reminded us of a beef pie. However, I thought the dauphinoise potatoes tasted amazing, and the sweetness of the green beans complimented the meal. The beef wellington is a quite filling meal by itself, so I'll suggest for ladies to cut the beef portion to half.
I've taken the recipe below from the Good Food Channel ©, I thought there is no use of re-writing the recipe as I just followed Rachel's. I cooked the dauphinoise potatoes first before the beef because it takes longer to bake, the green beans don't take long to cook so it can be cooked last. One thing about the beef wellington recipe, I can't find any tarragon at the supermarket so I substituted it with parsley.
Dauphinoise Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic, halved
- 50 g butter
- 500 g waxy potatoes, thinly sliced
- grated nutmeg
- 300 ml milk
- 300 ml double cream
- grated gruyère cheese, for sprinkling (optional)
Cooking method
1. Set the oven to 180C. Rub the cut sides of the garlic all over the insides of an ovenproof dish, then grease the dish with butter.
2. Put a layer of potatoes in the bottom of the dish. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and grated nutmeg. Add another layer of potato, season again and press down on the potatoes (the dauphinoise should be dense). Continue building up the layers until you reach the top of the dish, patting down each time.
3. Mix the milk and cream together and pour over the potatoes, making sure the liquid just covers the surface. Sprinkle the top with cheese, if liked.
4. Bake for 2 hours. Serve when the potatoes have softened and turned golden brown on top, while the cream is still bubbling
2. Put a layer of potatoes in the bottom of the dish. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and grated nutmeg. Add another layer of potato, season again and press down on the potatoes (the dauphinoise should be dense). Continue building up the layers until you reach the top of the dish, patting down each time.
3. Mix the milk and cream together and pour over the potatoes, making sure the liquid just covers the surface. Sprinkle the top with cheese, if liked.
4. Bake for 2 hours. Serve when the potatoes have softened and turned golden brown on top, while the cream is still bubbling
Beef Wellington
Ingredients
For the duxelles (mushroom butter)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 15 g butter
- 100 g shallots, finely chopped
- 250 g mushrooms, finely chopped
- 75 ml dry white wine
- 75 ml double cream, or regular cream
- 1 tbsp chopped tarragon (substituted with parsley)
- 2 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
- For the meat
- 4 beef fillet steak, about 150g each
- plain flour, for dusting
- 250 g ready-made puff pastry
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 egg, beaten
Cooking method
1. For the duxelles: place the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan on a medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the shallots and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Tip in the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook for 6–8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in the wine and cream and add the tarragon. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until the mixture has thickened. Stir in the spring onions, remove from the heat and spread the mixture out on a plate to allow it to cool.
3. For the meat: place a griddle pan or a frying pan on a high heat and, when it is very hot, brown the steaks for 1 minute on each side, seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside, allowing the meat to rest for about 20 minutes until cool.
4. Preheat the oven to 220C. Lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle, about 40 x 60cm and 3mm thick. Using a sharp knife, trim the edges of the pastry (reserving the scraps for decorations, if you wish), then cut it into four smaller rectangles each measuring approximately 20 x 30cm.
6. Spread about half a teaspoon of the mustard evenly over one side of each piece of pastry, leaving a gap of about 1cm around the edges, then place a steak in the centre. Divide the duxelles between the four steaks, heaping it neatly on top of each one.
7. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little of the beaten egg, then wrap up the steaks in the pastry as tidily as possible. Turn the parcels over so that the joins are facing down, then brush over the top with the beaten egg.
8. Place the Wellingtons on the baking tray in the oven and cook for 10 minutes, or until the pastry is golden, before turning the temperature down to 200C to cook for another 5–10 minutes, by which stage the pastry should be completely cooked. Take out of the oven and serve immediately.
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