Pushing the boat out!

So hands up on this one - it definitely doesn't fit with a student budget.  But if there's any loan left over at the end of the year and you fancy splashing out this recipe is worth a shot!  It's a bit of a show stopper and in theory a patriotic favourite: Beef Wellington...

Now I made this for New Year's Eve as a kind of 'Cheers' to my folks for really sticking by me and also to see whether I could actually handle a dish that requires technical skills that I hadn't considered attempting.  After a bit of web searching and racking a brain overwhelmed a little with the endless Christmas cook shows on over the festive season I plumped for a BBC GoodFood recipe, headlined by Gordon Ramsay.

Now Beef Wellington is a classic British dish and basically consists of a fillet of beef which is encased in  puff pastry.  Fillet beef is pretty much the most expensive cut you can get but it's really lean and done like this it's extremely tender. You can definitely find it at a decent butcher so wherever you live - find one! This recipe is not without teething problems though as I discovered with my piece being smaller than Gordon's recipe example as it was only to serve three, but also not really long and cylindrical (which is ideal) but being wider and broader across.  This meant that the cooking flawed me a little at the initial roasting stage, trying to work out comparable timings and also please family members who all like their meat done to different degrees.  So that's something to watch. Lesson learned there Lizzi! Therefore I would advise making sure that the fillet is evenly proportioned and no wider in diameter than ... a tube of Pringles? Yeah that works.

Much simpler (and with a more immediate sense of satisfaction) was the flavoured butter I made to add to the veg once cooked before serving.  Here's a little hint at it if you fancy giving it a go.  This is definitely an easy and totally affordable way to jazz up a student meal and impress if your cooking for others and just a great way to pimp up old faithful - the frozen pea!

Garlic and Parsley Butter 


50g Butter (salted or unsalted whatever you have, though preferably not spread!)
1 clove of Garlic, finely chopped
A pinch of salt
A handful of finely chopped Parsley

1) Take the butter out of the fridge preferably about 10 minutes before you want to work with it as allowing it to soften slightly will make things easier.  Then cut it up in smaller chunks, this will make the flavourings easier to combine and also help to distribute them more evenly through the butter.
2) Before you add the chopped garlic and while it is still on your chopping board, sprinkle the salt over it and with the flat of the knife against the board squash the garlic and mix the salt into it.  The salt is abrasive and so will help to form a garlicky paste - this will mean the garlic is distributed throughout the butter.  Also the salt will help to bring out the flavour of the garlic.
3) Once it has formed a rough paste, add it to the butter and mix together with a fork.  It may be difficult to get the mix going but if the butter has warmed enough it shouldn't prove too difficult.
4) When all the garlic is mixed in, add one third of the chopped parsley and mix.  Once the first lot is mixed through add the second and then repeat the same process with the remaining parsley.  As you stir it through you will notice that some parts of the butter mix are less concentrated with the parsley so as you add the remaining thirds of the herb, fold it in to those sections, perhaps cutting the butter sandwiching the parsley in the middle and then pressing the two halves as you continue to combine the mix.
5) Once all the flavours are evenly distributed, lay out a piece of cling film about A4 size on your worktop.  Place the butter in the centre and fold the top of cling film down so it meets the opposite edge. Then take the side of the cling and roll the butter parcel along you worktop. Repeat this action and quite quickly the cling film should twist at each end and soon you ought to have a little parcel resembling an oversized Quality Street sweet.  Then just twist these edges in your fingers (tie them together in a bow if you like) and pop it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before you want to use it.  It just allows the flavours to work through the butter and makes it easier to cut off chunks.

Then when you have boiled potatoes or carrots, broccoli or peas [insert fave veg here] just add your butter leave to melt for a minute or two stir/shake through the veg and serve!