Filet Wellington with Périgord Sauce

I prepared this exravagant dish for our Christmas Day's Lunch.  A whole beef filet piece covered by a farce mixture, which is made of mushrooms, shallots, chopped parsley & goose liver pâté, and enveloped with puff pastry.  The preparation is a bit time consuming but it is worth the effort.  I served this dish with Potato Gratin and Steamed Brusselsprouts & Carrots.

Ingredients (serves 4 - 6 persons):
1 beef filet (about 1.5 kg) - middle piece, if possible
3 tbsp olive oil

3 shallots, to be peeled and finely chopped
500 g brown or white mushrooms, to be cleaned and finely chopped
a handful fresh parsley, to be washed, dried and finely chopped
30 g butter
3 tbsp Madeira wine (optional)
3 tbsp fresh cream
80 g goose liver pâté
salt & ground black pepper to taste

2 rolls of fresh puff pastry or 2 pkts (à 300 g) frozen puff pastry, to be thawed
1 egg white
2 eggyolks

Worchestershiresauce
200 ml fresh cream
4 tbsp Madeira wine (optional)
125 ml water
1 tsp instant beef stock granules

Method;
In a medium-sized pot, heat butter over medium heat and add chopped shallots.  Stir-fry until translucent before adding the chopped mushrooms.  Cook until all liquid has evaporated.  Then, add cream and Madeira wine.  Cook further until completely dry i.e. until all liquid has evaporated again. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper before adding the chopped parsley.  Remove from heat and leave aside to cool down completely.  Once cooled down, add goose liver pâté and mix thoroughly.

Season beef filet with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Heat olive oil in a large pan and sauté until brown on all sides for about 10 minutes.  Remove to a tray and let it cool down completely.  Pour the juices from pan into a small pot for the sauce.

Place both layers of puff pastry on the worktop with two ends overlapping each other - brush the two ends with beaten egg white first).  Pat dry beef filet with kitchen paper before placing in near to end of puff pastry closer to you - slightly towards to the centre.  Cover beef filet with farce mixture all around.

Bring the lower end of pastry to cover beef filet and then the two sides to overlap as shown below:

Keep rolling until you get a perfect parcel.  Cut off excess puff pastry and cut into decorative strips to be arranged on top.  Then, brush with eggyolks all over and by using a small skewer, prick all over the pastry in order that the air can escape during baking.  Bake in a preheated fan oven at 180° C for about 30 minutes.  Once baking time is over, switch off oven and leave the Filet Wellington for another 10 to 15 minutes with the oven door ajar.

Before serving, slice the Filet Wellington to serving portions.  Serve with gravy.

To make the Périgord Sauce:  add fresh cream and bring to a slight boil.  Season with salt & freshly ground black pepper.  Thicken gravy with a mixture of cornflour/water if preferred.

Bon Appetit!