ROASTED FILLET OF BEEF ROLLED IN HERBS & PORCINI & WRAPPED IN PROSCIUTTO

By jarren

Ingredients

• 12-18 slices prosciutto or Parma ham
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 good handful of dried porcini, soaked in around 1 cup boiling water
• 3 very large pats of butter juice of 1/2 a lemon
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2-lb fillet of beef (preferably from the middle, left whole)
• 1 good handful of fresh rosemary and thyme, leaves picked from stems and chopped
• 2 glasses of red wine

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat your oven and an appropriately sized roasting pan to 450°F. Make sure there are no gaps in between the laid-out slices of prosciutto on the wax paper. Chop one of the garlic cloves and fry with the soaked porcini in 1 pat of butter for a minute. Then add half of the soaking water (make sure it is grit-free). Simmer slowly and reduce for around 5 minutes before stirring in a squeeze of lemon, the remaining butter and seasoning. Rub your tasty and moist mushrooms over half of the laid-out prosciutto. Season your fillet of beef and roll it in the herbs. Place it on the mushrooms end of the prosciutto and slowly roll up the meat. Once the beef is rolled up, pull off the wax paper and push in the ends of the prosciutto to neaten. Lightly secure with 4 pieces of string. Chefs have a certain way of doing this, but as long as the string holds the meat together I don’t care how you do it.

Place the fillet in the hot roasting pan with a couple of cloves of garlic and cook for 25-30 minutes (rare), 40 minutes (medium), 50 minutes (well-done) or 60 minutes (cremated!). Halfway through, add the wine to the pan. When the meat is done, remove it to a chopping board and leave it to rest for 5 minutes. Pour any juices back into the roasting pan. Simmer the juices on top of the stove, scraping all the goodness from the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and serve as a light red wine gravy. Slice the fillet as thick or as thin as you like and serve with some potatoes or some gorgeous greens.

I like to reserve a little of the cooked porcini to serve with sauteed greens