Steak Washington

The original recipe for this dish called for the steak parcels to be deep fried in beef fat. That’s no longer practical or healthy so I’ve used olive oil. In fact any good quality cooking oil will do, but you will need a deep fryer of some kind and careful preparation.

These are the ingredients you need for one steak parcel. You can easily increase these depending on how many people you intend to feed.

1 fillet steak
1 flat mushroom, approximately the same size as the steak
1 sheet of rolled out puff pastry
50g clarified butter
Salt and black pepper
Beaten egg to glaze
Half a lemon
Cayenne pepper
Oil for deep frying.

Heat the butter in a skillet to smoking point and sear the steak on both sides and edges. Set aside to cool on a wire rack or something similar.

Reduce the heat and add the mushroom, skin side down. Sprinkle it with a few drops of lemon juice, a little salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper.  Once the mushroom is lying almost flat in the pan, take it out and put it skin side up on top of the steak. Leave it to cool.

Now cut your pastry into two rounds, one of which needs to be about 2cm wider all round than the steak, and the other needs to be another 3cms wider than that. These will form the parcel and it’s important that they join together all the way round in a perfect seal.

Put the steak, with the mushroom on top, on the smaller piece of pastry which you have already brushed with a little beaten egg. Now brush the second piece with the egg and place it, egg-wash side down, over the steak.

Crimp the two pastry surfaces together and seal carefully.

Heat your deep fat fryer to 190°C, 375°F, and carefully lower the parcel into it. Cook for 7 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden.

Drain carefully on kitchen paper and serve with minted potatoes and a crisp green salad.

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