There are some dishes that have earned themselves quite a reputation for being  downright difficult, and most people write them off without having even tried them.  Souffle…no way! Roulade…too hard!

 But if you, like me, have always fancied trying Beef Wellington (after all, what could be wrong about beef fillet wrapped in pastry?) then this might just be the recipe for you.

 Devised by the lovely Simon Rimmer, of Something for the Weekend fame, this version of one of the UK’s signature dishes is surprisingly easy. If you have a mushroom phobic in the house, as I do, then the duck pate is a great alternative to the traditional mushroom filling. The trick to this is to let your meat rest really well-that way you won’t end up with soggy pastry.

 Cook time: 30-35minutes      Prep time: 30-45 minutes      Serves: 2

 Ingredients:

 500g piece of beef fillet

125g readymade puff pastry

175g coarse duck liver pate

1tbsp Dijon mustard

1 egg, beaten

½ tsp dried thyme

1tbsp butter

1 tbsp oil

Salt and pepper to taste

 Method:

1. Before you even start cooking, make sure that your beef has rested for at least half an hour, preferably out of the fridge and out of its packaging.
2. Heat a frying pan until really hot and then add your oil. Brown your beef on all sides briefly then remove from the pan and leave to rest again until cool.
3. Once cool, spread the beef all over with the Dijon mustard, and then spread just one side with the pate, keeping it as evenly spread as you can.
4. Roll out the puff pastry until it’s just big enough to wrap round your beef. Place the beef pate side up at one end of the pastry, and roll to enclose it completely in pastry. Tuck the open ends underneath to neaten them up.
5. Brush the Wellington with egg wash all over, and then transfer to the fridge for half an hour to chill. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, and put a baking tray in to warm up.
6. Transfer your Wellington to the oven for 30 minutes, until the pastry is just golden. The beef will be cooked to just medium at this point, but if you like it more well done leave it for another 5-10 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and rest for another 5 minutes, then serve with dauphinoise potatoes and seasonal veg.

 Foodie Tip: A meat thermometer is a good gadget to have if you want to be able to check that the meat is cooked to your liking without disturbing the dish too much.