Beef Wellington
Ingredients
- 1kg/2lb 2oz Piece Beef Fillet, Trimmed
- Salt
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 tbsp Fresh Thym Leaves
- 350g/12oz Coarse Duck Pâté
- 2 tbsp English Mustard
- 250g/9oz Ready-made Puff Pastry
- 1 free-range Egg, Beaten
- 2 tbsp Butter
Preparation method
- Season the beef with the salt and freshly ground black pepper and sprinkle with the thyme.
- Heat a large frying pan until very hot, then drizzle with the oil. Add the beef and cook briefly, turning occasionally, until golden-brown on all sides.
- Remove the beef and allow to cool.
- Spread the mustard all over the beef, then spread the pâté evenly over one side of the beef.
- Roll the puff pastry out to dimensions that will wrap around the beef to completely enclose it.
- Place the beef on top of the pastry and roll it up to form a parcel. Brush the edges with beaten egg and press down to seal.
- Trim away any excess overlapping pastry and brush the beef Wellington all over with beaten egg. Transfer to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Place a baking tray in the oven to preheat.
- Place the beef Wellington onto a sheet of buttered baking parchment, then transfer onto the hot baking tray (so that the beef Wellington cooks evenly).
- Transfer to the oven to bake for 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden-brown and the beef is cooked to your liking. (A meat thermometer is a good guide in this case.)
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for five minutes, then serve in slices with your chosen vegetables
Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
The Beef
- Fore Rib of Beef (about 4 kgs/9 lbs), French Trimmed, On the bone, Chined
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
The Yorkshire Pudding
- 3 Eggs
- 115g/4oz Flour
- 275ml/½ Pint Milk
- Beef Dripping
- Salt
Preparation Method
- Preheat the oven to its highest setting.
- Rub the beef with the olive oil, salt and pepper all over.
- Put a heavy-based roasting tray on the hob and when hot, add the beef.
- Sear the beef quickly on all sides to colour and crisp the outside.
- Transfer the beef immediately to the oven and leave the oven on its highest setting (about 240C/460F/Gas 8) for 20 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and roast for half an hour per kilo for rare, adding another ten minutes per kilo for medium rare, 20 minutes per kilo for medium, and 30 minutes per kilo for well done.
- Remove the beef from the oven, transfer it to a carving board and cover with foil. Allow it to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- For the Yorkshire pudding, mix together the eggs, flour and a pinch of salt.
- Add the milk, stirring constantly, until you have a runny batter.
- Leave this to rest, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.
- Place 1cm/½in of beef dripping in the bottom of each pudding mould, or if you are using a rectangular roasting tray, place 1cm/½in of beef dripping across the bottom.
- Heat the dripping in the oven (at 240C/460F/Gas 8) for about ten minutes, until it is piping hot.
- Remove the roasting tray from the oven, pour in the batter, and immediately return to the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown and crispy, making sure not to open the oven door for the first 20 minutes.
- Serve immediately with the carved roast beef
Life After Lambing!
May is a great month in our farming calendar as it allows us to regroup and contemplate on the busy blur of April. It was decided to lamb maternal groups in the first three weeks of the month, having already lambed the terminal group in March. With the exceptional weather promoting grass growth it made the process far easier. Ewes and lambs were enjoying out on fresh grass, and thrived in the near perfect conditions. Since lambing things were progressing nicely, and we had hoped to cut some silage this month. We have had days of torrential rain, which is not great for the lambs. It’s at times like these that well maintained hedgerows are vital, as they are now full of ewes and lambs sheltering from the elements. The grass growth has slowed slightly with the drop in temperature, but our main problem over the past year has been keeping the grass under control! We have had to follow the ewes around with the topper in order to maintain grazing quality. Through mob grazing and rotating the ewes around the farm we find that we are utilising the grass more, and need stock at a higher density in order to take full advantage of this system. We are big believers in the benefits of a grass fed system, which the ewes and lambs thrive off. It truly is a wonderful time of year to be farming. The lambs are very mischievous and keep Tim (our sheepdog) very busy. Last night’s post supper task was usher two twin lambs out of the garden and back to their noisy mother. We have all but finished the lambing and calving, apart from one heifer who is yet to calve. Although, as I write this piece things may have changed. She was checked about an hour ago, and I anticipate that we may have a new arrival soon. We are moving from one busy period to another. We are hoping for a busy summer with our meat sales. With the website having gone ‘live’ and a steady stream of interest it is an exciting time. We are very passionate about what we do, and take great pride in rearing and producing stock of high quality. It is so fulfilling to share it with friends, family and new customers. We are very excited about meeting new people and sharing a taste of ‘Llygadenwyn Farm’.
And We're Off!
Today has been a long time coming! We have been planning and preparing for today for the past eighteen months! It has been a very exciting process with many trials and challenges along the way. It is an extremely proud moment for us to finally get our website online and have a platform to showcase the fruits of our labour. The farm has ensured that we are kept busy, this being the main reason for the slow progress in getting ‘Oriel Jones’ online. I am kept busy with the day to day tasks, such as, checking the livestock, monitoring grass growth and ensuring livestock have plenty of fresh, clover rich grass at all times. The lambs are thriving in this environment, and enjoy being moved into fresh pasture every few days. I took the opportunity to get the ewes and lambs in the other day, this gave me a chance to check that they are all healthy, thriving and growing. Our average daily live weight gain for the lambs was 350g, with one single born lamb growing at 462g a day! She is a little barrel who is making the most of the clover rich leys and her mother’s milk. She will be a great addition to the flock, and will hopefully have many happy years ahead of her and Llygadenwyn Farm. It is crucial to our system that we select the very best animals to breed from, thus ensuring we continue to produce the very best produce with good meat to bone ratio and the optimum level of fat covering, thus ensuring, tenderness, flavour and succulence. In anticipation for our launch we have been preparing are Welsh beef and lamb. Our prime beef cuts are dry aged for 28 days, which ensures a great depth of flavour and an intense eating experience. Dry-aging beef means that once the animal is slaughtered and butchered, portions of the carcass are allowed to rest in very carefully controlled conditions (cool temperatures, with relatively high humidity) for 28 days, or if required we can continue with the process for up to 60 days. When we create such conditions, we allow enzymes to do their work. We end up with a complexity of flavor that just wasn't there before. There's no cooking method that can generate the depth of flavor of a dry-aged piece of meat. I hope that you all enjoy our new website and get a chance to order some of our dry aged beef, you won’t be disappointed. We would appreciate any feedback, and encourage our customers to get in touch. As we are a small business, we hand cut and tie all our products, therefore, if it’s not on the site get in touch and we can create a bespoke order.
Down on the Farm
The past month has been great for grass growth. We have had blazing hot days followed by torrential downpours! Although great for grass growth it has made other aspects of farming rather tricky! We have had to cut and bale silage as and when we can, with some still left to cut. Also, it has put us on red alert for fly strike on the ewes and lambs. It was vital that we had the shearing gang in as soon as possible in order to get our girls a ‘haircut’ and remove their fleeces. This reduces the risk of fly strike and ensures the ewes don’t get too hot and bothered on a hot summers day. All the ewes and lambs have had an application of ‘Click’, which acts as an insect repellent, thus ensuring our livestock remain healthy and happy during the summer months. We are approaching the end of weaning time, this is the time when the lambs are ready to fend for themselves and allow the ewes some well-deserved rest and recuperation. The lambs will then have priority when deciding grazing options, and the ewes will be turned up to the higher ground to roam for the next few months. The lambs are getting very adventurous and playful, it is a great sight to see mobs of young lambs racing up and down the fields. This is always a reassuring sight for any farmer as it shows that the young stock are healthy. The key to any successful farm is having well looked after healthy livestock, that are suited to their environment and can thrive in the conditions. It has been a busy couple of weeks off farm also. I was asked to become a member of the ‘NFU Cymru (National Farmers Union of Wales) Next Generation Policy Group’. We met in Cardiff for a couple of days and discussed the issues and opportunities for young people in agriculture. I am looking forward to future meetings and seeing how the group develops. It is a great opportunity to ensure young people within agriculture have a platform to be heard. I also visited the ‘Royal Welsh Agricultural Show’. It is a great showcase for Welsh agriculture, and attracts visitors from around the World. It is great to see people engaging with agriculture and appreciating the process from field to fork. I must admit that I spent a lot of the day at the food hall, sampling my way around the building! It was great to see all the local and artisan produce on display. The past four weeks has been busy, but very enjoyable. We have started receiving orders and had positive feedback, which is promising. Let’s hope the next four weeks are just as enjoyable and busy!
It's Been a While!
It's been a long time since I last wrote a post! I can safely say a lot has happened since then! The farm has continued to progress steadily. Nothing happens at a quick pace in farming. We only get one chance a year to improve our genetics and ensure that we continue to improve and have a happy and healthy flock of sheep and herd of cattle. We have recently purchased a young Welsh Black bull, Morlais Oriel, and I am happy to announce a 100% scanning on his ladies. All ere in calf, also all were served very early. This means our calving period with be condensed and all calves will be of similar ages when growing up. This is a great help from a farm management perspective. We have reduced the sheep numbers, largely due to the labour involved in marinating a healthy flock. The reduction in numbers has ensured that their is more pasture for the livestock, thus in turn ensuring fit ewes to go to the ram. Since my last post I have become a father, and there is now a 5th generation to the Jones family business. Matilda is now 19 months old, and is showing a keen interest in sheep and a fantastic tractor driver. She has no trouble manoeuvring her pink tractor and trailer around the house, and is better than reversing than I am! We opened our first butcher shop in Cardiff at the end of October. This was a big step for the family, but one that we are very passionate about. I take great pride in showcasing our produce and the discussions between customer and farmer are varied and interesting. The response has been positive and we have seen many customers over the past few weeks and many of which are now regular customers. We are specialising in dry aged beef and we also dry age our welsh lamb. We source our pork and poultry locally and ethically. We have partnered up with some Cardiff based businesses and well known faces over the past couple of months. We have teamed up with Got Beef, which specialise in Welsh Black burgers, and have been voted Cardiff's best burgers. We are very proud to supply 'Got Beef' with all their burgers and meaty needs. We also teamed up with 'Master Chef' contestant Imran Nathoo. Imran was running a series of pop up events throughout the summer. One of which was in partnership with 'Meat Promotions Wales', and we supplied the rolled lamb shoulder for Imran's spectacular menu. They evening was held on the roof terrace of 'Jacob's Market' and included a screening of the film 'Chef'. It was a fantastic evening, which we all enjoyed. I will continue to update the blog on a monthly basis, and keep you all informed!