It’s Valentine’s Day on Tuesday, a great opportunity to make a special effort and enjoy a romantic meal at home.
Vicky is making 10 Venison or Beef Wellingtons, the perfect luxury ready meal. You need to let me know if you would like one, and when those ten are sold, that’s it, so be quick and let me know if you want beef or venison. Each wellington is handmade with either aged beef fillet, or wild venison loin, wrapped in homemade mushroom duxelles and prosciutto, and folded into all butter puff pastry. All you need to do is pop it in the oven for 20 minutes for a delicious meal for two. They are £29.50 for a two-person wellington and will be available to pick up between Saturday and Tuesday.
Lee has beef fillet and venison loin so that you can make your own wellington or a superb steak (sirloin, ribeye or venison) with a wild mushroom sauce. We have a simple recipe below.
Aged Steak and Mushroom Sauce Recipe (serves 2)
Cooking time will depend on your choice of steak, thickness and how you like it cooked. This recipe is for two 200g ribeyes about 1 inch thick. For a thick fillet steak, sear and then finish for 5-10 minutes in a hot oven. Use a probe to check when to take it off the heat (as it will continue to cook when resting). See the table below…
Take the steak out of the fridge an hour before cooking and bring to room temperature and season with sea salt.
Heat a frying pan and add 1 tbsp of oil, once hot, add the steaks and cook on each side for 2-3 minutes, or until cooked to your liking (see table below). Add 25g butter at the last minute and baste the meat. Allow the steak to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Mushroom sauce
50g unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
200g exotic mix mushrooms
2 tbsp Madeira or white wine
200ml chicken stock
75ml double cream
handful fresh parsley
Heat the South Downs butter in a large frying pan until foaming. Fry the garlic for 2-3 minutes stirring to keen from burning Add the loosely chopped mushrooms and fry for 5-6 minutes, or until golden-brown and the liquid from the mushrooms has been released. Pour in the Madeira and cook until the volume of liquid has reduced by half, then add the stock and reduce again by half. Stir in the cream, and add the chopped parsley, season to taste.
Serve with potatoes and veg and a nice glass of red wine.
| Remove from heat at this temperature | Final cooked temperature | |
| Rare | 48ºC / 118ºF | 50ºC / 120ºF |
| Medium Rare | 52ºC / 125ºF | 54ºC / 130ºF |
| Medium | 58ºC / 136ºF | 60ºC / 140ºF |
| Medium Well | 62ºC / 143ºF | 65ºC / 140ºF |
| Well Done | 68ºC / 154F | 70ºC / 160ºF |