Recipe: Make Leeds chef Molly Payne's fillet of beef wellington at home for an impressive date night dish

Molly has exclusively shared her recipe for a fillet of beef wellington with Yorkshire Evening Post readers, part of the signature menu from her high-end delivery business ByMolly.

Wrapped with parma ham and encased in puff pastry, this fine dining take on a British classic is sure to impress.

It's one of her most popular dishes and now you can try it at home.

Molly serves her signature beef wellington with dauphinoise potatoes and a red wine and mushroom sauce.

Ingredients:

12oz barrel fillet steak (ask your butchers for a longer cut)

4 slices (around 60g) of parma ham

300g rolled puff pastry, chilled/1 sheet pre-rolled

25g finely diced onion

1 finely diced garlic clove

1tsp fresh thyme leaves

olive oil

200g diced chestnut mushrooms

chopped fresh parsley

2 egg yolks

salt & pepper to season

Method

The night before:

Wrap the fillet steak in a triple layer of cling film. Keep the ends tight so the steak keeps its thick log-like shape.

Mushroom pate:

Firstly, make your mushroom pate by sweating off onion and garlic clove, both finely diced with a teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves with a splash of olive oil

Once onions are sweated off, add diced button mushrooms, turn the heat up to high and cook mushrooms until they have no moisture left. Don’t forget to season.

Remove from the heat and then place into a blender and blend until smooth. Pop into the fridge until cool. Once cooled, mix your parsley through.

Cooking the beef:

Remove cling film from your beef, then quickly sear in a frying pan with a splash of olive oil until browned all over. Remove from pan and cool.

Triple layer a rectangular shape of cling film on a clean work surface, then layer your parma ham so they slightly cover each other and shape into a square. Using a spoon, spread your mushroom duxelle equally all over your parma ham.

Season your beef fillet, then place in the centre of your parma ham horizontally. Use the cling film to wrap your beef in the parma ham starting with the piece closest to your body then fold away from you.

Roll and tie each side as tight as you can, tie each side then chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge to set the log shape.

Baking the beef wellington:

Flour your clean work surface, lay your pastry out and egg wash around the sides. Remove cling film from your beef and place in the centre of your pastry.

Tightly roll pastry around beef, trimming each side of excess pastry. Egg wash your beef wellington all over. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 200C.

After 30 minutes, remove from fridge, egg wash again and gently score criss-crosses on the pastry if you wish to be extra fancy (ensure you do this step very gently).

Put some greaseproof under your wellington, place onto a baking tray and pop into the oven for 30 minutes exactly for medium-rare (35 for medium). Allow to rest for 10 minutes (15 for medium).

Once rested, use a serrated knife to gently trim off the ends on each side (roughly 1cm). Then slice down the middle for the perfect fillet of beef wellington.