A quick and simple recipe for a special occasion à deux … Serve with a simple green veg such as green beans or courgettes.
2 thick slices fillet steak
2 slabs frozen puff pastry, thawed
good-quality mushroom pâté (I used a jar of truffle sauce I brought back from Italy)
salt and pepper
oil
1 egg, beaten
Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan oven). Brush the steaks with oil, season, and quickly brown for 30 seconds on each side (I used a pre-heated ridged iron grill pan, but if you don’t have one use a heavy frying pan). Leave the steaks on a plate to cool completely (this is important — if you wrap hot steaks in pastry, the pastry is likely to slide off into an untidy heap when you put them in the oven).
Roll out the puff pastry and cut into four oblongs a bit larger all round than the steaks. Place two of the squares on a baking tray. Put each steak on one of the oblongs and spread with about a tablespoon of mushroom pâté. Brush the pastry edges with egg, cover with the second piece, and seal the edges well, trimming off any excess. Brush the tops with egg.
Put in the pre-heated oven and cook for 12 minutes for medium-rare steak.