Cooking up Beef Wellington, Yorkshire Pudding at home

JAKARTA (JP): Voila... local Rosewood chain hotel The Dharmawangsa shares its recipes for Beef Wellington and Yorkshire Pudding, originally served at its London chain, The Lanesborough.

These sumptuous meals are prepared for lunch and dinner at The Dining Room at the Bimasena Club, during the hotel's six-day English food promotion, dubbed the Culinary Voyage to The Lanesborough, London, which ended on July 21.

Beef Wellington 1.4 kg fillet of beef 1 tbsp vegetable oil 40 g butter 225 g button mushrooms 175 g smooth liver pate 375 g puff pastry 1 egg, beaten, to glaze

(Makes 8 servings) 1. Preheat oven to 220 degree Celsius 2. Trim and tie up the fillet at intervals with fine string so it retains its shape. Heat the oil and 15 grams of the butter in a large frying pan, add the meat and fry briskly on all sides. Press down with a wooden spoon while frying to seal well. 3. Roast for 20 minutes, then set the beef aside to cool and remove the string. 4. Meanwhile, cook the mushrooms in the remaining butter until soft, leave until cold, then blend with the pate. 5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to a large rectangle about 33 x 28 cm and 0.5 cm thick. 6. Spread pate mixture down the center of the pastry. Place the meat on top in the center. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg. 7. Fold the pastry edges over lengthways and turn the parcel over so that the join is underneath. Fold the ends under the meat on the baking sheet. 8. Decorate with leaves cut from the pastry trimmings. Brush with the remaining egg and bake for 50 to 60 minutes depending how well done you like your beef, covering with foil after 25 minutes. Allow the Beef Wellington to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Yorkshire Pudding 1/4 cup of dripping or butter 2 eggs 1 cup milk - heat to room temperature 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp salt

(Makes 6 servings) 1. Place dripping in baking dish and heat in 220 degree Celsius oven until hot. Do not burn. 2. Combine eggs, milk, flour and salt. Beat until bubbly (about 2 minutes). Allow to stand for 20-30 minutes at room temperature. 3. Pour batter into pan with hot dripping. Bake at 180-200 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until browned and puffy. Serve at once with or without gravy. (Lower oven temperature to prevent burning when using dark or glass pans).

Note: Another variation of Yorkshire pudding, which comes from Norfolk, England, is "Pudding-pye-doll" or also called "Toad-in- the-hole". Rather than using dripping, sausages are cooked at 220 degrees in the baking dish for 10 to 70 minutes or until done (drain excess fat). Pour batter over the sausages. Pudding is cooked 30 minutes or until golden brown. Some recipes recommend the oven temperature be lowered and the pudding is baked 15 minutes longer for a total of 45 minutes.

Recipes courtesy of The Dharmawangsa Jakarta.