CHRISTMAS RECIPE: Christmas Beef Wellington

Beef wellington has to be the ultimate indulgence, one of my all-time favourite main courses and it will definitely be on my last supper menu. My version is a lot lighter and sexier and for Christmas I'm going to give it an added twist. First off, the fillet of beef. Now look at it, it's beautiful. First, the most important part is to sear it. Salt, pepper. The fillet is the leanest and the most expensive cut of beef. It comes from underneath the lower backbone, a part of the animal which has very little muscle and this is what makes it such a tender cut. Very, very hot pan. Olive oil and literally roll it around the pan. We're not cooking the beef, we're just searing it which will really help to give another layer of flavour and beef in. Lovely. Now use the side of the pan so the beef sears down the back when you tilt it. It's a secret to get it done quickly, it gives that really nice roasted flavour. Delicious. Once you've got the colour, very carefully lift up the beef and sear it on top and sear it on the bottom. Out and onto the plate. English mustard. What this does now, it gives it a bit of heat. Just lightly brush the mustard over the beef. It's really important that you do this as the beef comes straight out of the pan and as the beef starts to cool down, it absorbs all that heat from the mustard. Horseradish is a really nice alternative as well. Just leave that to sit and relax. As the fillet rests, prepare the filling which is called a duxelle. Put 700 grams of chestnut mushrooms into a blender, add a chopped clove of garlic, season with salt and pepper and blitz. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without chestnuts. I just crumble them in to the mushrooms. The chestnut's sweet nutty flavour works brilliantly with the earthy taste of the mushrooms and because they contain more starch and less oil than other nuts, they have a much softer texture that is perfect for the filling. That smells amazing. Smells like Christmas. Once the mixture is finely chopped, cook in a hot dry pan. This removes the water from the mushrooms and intensifies the flavour. You can see the water coming out instantly. Such an essential stage, really critical to the success of the Wellington that you dry those mushrooms out and get rid of all that water. Take the mushrooms up even further, some fresh thyme in there which will make it really nice and light and fragrant. When all the water's been fried off, remove from the pan and leave to cool. Then start assembling the Wellington. Stage one, wrapping the beef fillet. First of all, these wonderful slices of Parma ham and look, beautiful. Overlap it and set it there. So the secret of overlapping the Parma ham is to make sure it contains all those juices coming out of the beef. In the traditional recipe for Beef Wellington, a thick chive and spring onion pancake is used instead of ham. But the Parma ham makes the dish much lighter and its sweet, salty flavour really compliments the mushroom and chestnut filling. A little touch of pepper, no salt because the ham is naturally salty. Just a little twist of pepper and then from there, your mushrooms. Basically, mushrooms go on. Use the back of the spoon to spread them nice and thinly. Half an inch from the ends. Rump holes, no. Hop it. Every time there's meat, out he comes. Next, lay the beef on top and very carefully fold that over. Now, we're going to lift that up and wrap the beef nice and carefully. So all that mushroom and Parma ham is encasing the beef all the way over. Push it nice and tight. Roll it nice and tight and go all the way over. Now, the secret from here is to really let the cling film do the work. Just nip it at the ends and squeeze. And what we're doing is just creating this wonderful sort of cylinder shape off and then just twist it nice and tightly. And the tighter it is, the more perfect the shape. Then place in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up. Once it's set, it's ready for the final wrap. A little bit of cling film, puff pastry, beef. Now, very carefully, first roll the puff pastry over the beef until the two edges meet. Then trim off any excess pastry and twist the ends together to ensure the beef is completely sealed in its pastry case. To set that perfectly and get it really nice and firm, to make it really cylinder type, cling film over and just pull that nice and tight. But the big secret behind this is that it can be done the night before. And the tighter the cling film, the better the shape. The more even the shape, the more even it cooks. Put it back in the fridge for five minutes to firm up again. Then take off the cling film. Almost like the perfect Christmas cracker. To give the pastry a lovely rich golden brown colour when it bakes, brush it with egg yolk. And then finally, you don't have to do this, but it's a chefy thing, a little bit of decoration. Back of the knife down and then just twist and mark the pastry. When it comes out of the oven, it's got that wow factor. Add a generous sprinkle of salt to ensure the pastry becomes lovely and crisp. Then bake in an oven at 200 degrees for around 35 minutes. Depending on how rare you like your beef. Once out of the oven, it's crucial you let the Wellington rest for at least 10 minutes. This allows the meat to relax and reabsorb its delicious juices, making sure it's tender and succulent. Nice and gently. Hear that pastry, how crisp that is. This is the bit I've been waiting for. Oh, wow. My God. I'm in heaven. And for me, if you want a really nice change to roast turkey, this has to be the ultimate for the table. It smells Christmassy. The chestnuts, the mushrooms and that nice crisp pastry on the outside. Look at it. I'm ready to die and go to heaven.