With South Africans celebrating National Braai Day in September there’s no doubt that this month’s recipe should include some meat on the fire!  Not that we need an excuse to braai but everything just tastes better on the braai and in this case, it’s the classic Beef Wellington.

Beef Wellington Recipe

What you’ll need:

• 1 tot olive oil
• 1 onion (finely chopped)
• 250g mushrooms (finely chopped)
• 1 cup (250ml) cream
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 300 – 500 g steak (rump, sirloin, fillet)
• 400 roll of puff pastry
• grated cheese (optional)
• smoked ham (optional)

What to do:

1. Finely chop the onion and mushrooms. Add olive oil and/or butter and the finely chopped onion and mushrooms to a pan and fry until the mushrooms lose their moisture and starts to brown. Then add the thyme.
2. Add some or all of the cream to the pan and let this mushroom, onion and cream sauce reduce to a fairly thick paste.
3. Trim the steak of your choice (rump, sirloin or fillet) of all sinews and fat and braai over very hot coals for about 8 minutes until medium rare. Let the steak rest a few minutes and then thinly slice.
4. Unroll the thawed puff pastry on a cutting board. Spread the mushroom and cream paste on half the surface of the pastry and lay the slices of steak on top of that. Generously season with salt and pepper.
5. Optional step: finely chop smoked ham and grate some cheese. Add this on top of the current residents of the puff pastry.
6. Fold the uncovered half of the pastry over the filling and use a fork to press all open sides of the pastry closed and seal it.
7. Now braai in a hinged grid over medium coals for about 20 minutes until ready. You want the pastry golden brown and crispy and all ingredients heated and melted throughout. As puff pastry braais there will be a moment where it seems to ‘melt’ and sag into the grid. Don’t panic. After this it will firm up again and start to cook.