The Mad Scientist's Brilliant Beef Wellington

The Mad Scientist's Individual Beef Wellington and Sauteed Sweet Potato Shavings 

Ingredients: 

• Beef eye fillet - approximately 250g per person 
• One sheet of puff pastry per piece of beef 
• Milk or egg for glazing 
• Spray for bottom of oven pan 
• One piece of sweet potato 
• One leek 
• Ground (wet) ginger 
• Ground (wet) garlic 
• Olive oil 
• Potatoes 
• Milk 
• Handful of shredded tasty cheese 
• Ground black pepper 
• Flowerets of broccoli 

Beef Wellington

Cut eye fillet into chunks of approximately 250g per person.

Saute chunks in a pan with olive oil until sealed and slightly browned on all sides. Ideally rest for a while until the beef has cooled down a bit. If it is too hot when you put it on the puff pastry it can 'melt' and stretch the pastry and bits of the beef will start poking through.

Fold the sheet of puff pastry around the piece of beef and seal on all sides. This can be as simple or as artistic as you desire. It is a nice touch to cut a couple of puff pastry leaves for each fillet (cut a long leaf shape and lightly score it down the middle) and roll a little ball of puff pastry to put between the leaves on top of the pastry bundle.

Glaze each packet with egg or milk (easiest using a pastry brush). Place into an oven tray. The bundles will be easier to serve if there is some oil spray on the bottom of the pan before putting them in to cook.

Place into a fan-forced oven at 180 to 200 degrees Celsius and keep an eye on it so that the puff pastry casing does not burn. If you want the pieces of eye fillet fully cooked, about 45 minutes should do it. The less cooking time, the rarer the beef will be, but of course you want the casing to have at least a golden hue to it before you take it out of the oven.

Sauteed Sweet Potato Shavings with Leek, Garlic and Ginger

Shave a generous piece of sweet potato using a vegetable peeler. Cut a leek into thin circles.

Using the pan juices from searing the beef, mix these with approximately half a teaspoon of each of the wet ground ginger and garlic. Heat in an open pan on the stove top. Then add the strips of sweet potato and the leek. Mix together and leave to sweat in the pan but stir on a regular basis until the texture of the sweet potato has softened and all the fluid from the juices has more or less evaporated. Add a small amount of olive oil and saute (stirring regularly) until you are happy with the texture of the sweet potato and the degree of caramelisation.

Steamed Broccoli

Cut the broccoli into small flowerets and steam until the colour has changed to bright green and you are happy with the degree of softness for eating. Be careful not to overcook.

Mashed Potato

As a general rule, allow around 1.5 medium-sized potatoes per person. Peel and chop into small chunks. Boil until potato is softened. Drain water off and mash potato together with your preferred additives. In this case, milk, some ground black pepper and a handful of grated tasty cheese was used.

The individual Beef Wellingtons are the star of the plate! Place the vegetables separately around the puff pastry packet. Enjoy!