Beef Wellington with Madeira Sauce

WELLINGTON PROCEDURE

• 1
  Remove the meat from the refrigerator, cover it with a clean cloth, and let it rest at room temperature for 40 minutes.
• 2
  Peel the mushrooms, cut off and discard the stems. Blend the caps in a mixer to a paste.
• 3
  Place the mushroom paste into a dry, hot pan and sauté it, stirring constantly, over high heat for 8-10 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated from the mushrooms. Season with a pinch of salt and transfer to a bowl to cool.
• 4
  Thoroughly clean the rested meat of any membranes. Cut the tip of the meat and tuck it under the main part. Cut off a portion of the 'thumb' so that the meat cylinder is uniformly thick. Tie the meat with kitchen twine. Season it thoroughly with salt and pepper on all sides.
• 5
  Heat a pan over high heat. Once it starts smoking, pour in the oil and sear the meat on all sides until browned. Approximately 30 seconds per side. Do not pull the meat from the pan while searing. Always wait 30 seconds before turning it.
• 6
  Remove the seared meat from the pan, let it cool, then spread mustard on all sides. Set aside.
• 7
  Spread cling film on a work surface and arrange slices of Parma ham on it, overlapping them.
• 8
  Spread the mushroom paste over the ham slices and place the meat in the center.
• 9
  Wrap the meat so that the mushroom paste and ham cover it, and tighten the film very firmly. Refrigerate for 3 hours.
• 10
  Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle approximately 3 mm thick.
• 11
  Remove the meat from the refrigerator and remove the film.
• 12
  Spread new cling film on a work surface, place the rolled-out pastry on it, and brush it with half of the beaten egg yolks.
• 13
  Place the chilled meat in the center of the pastry, wrap it, and cut off any excess pastry edges with a pastry wheel. Wrap it again in cling film and tighten very firmly. Chill the package in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Then unwrap the chilled meat from the film.
• 14
  Preheat the oven to 190 °C.
• 15
  Place the meat wrapped in pastry, seam-side down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• 16
  Brush the entire pastry with beaten egg yolks and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
• 17
  Then lightly score the top of the pastry in a lattice pattern with a table knife for decoration (be careful not to cut through the pastry to the meat) and brush again with beaten egg yolks.
• 18
  Insert a probe thermometer into the center of the meat. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 28 °C.
• 19
  Remove the meat from the oven and let it rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
• 20
  Slice the finished meat evenly into portions.
• 21
  Serve with Madeira sauce.

SAUCE PROCEDURE

• 1
  Finely chop the shallot and mushrooms.
• 2
  In a saucepan over medium heat, melt one-third of the butter until foamy. Add the shallot and sauté, stirring constantly, until translucent. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 3
  Pour in the Madeira and demi-glace, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to one-third, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced to one-third of its original volume. Remove from heat.
• 4
  Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan and stir in the remaining chilled butter.
• 5
  Season with salt and pepper and mix.