Fillet from Veal with a “Duxelle”, baked in a Phyllo pastry crust and accompanied by fried green Asparagus and Lemon Grass Cream.

Ingredients

• 600-800g fillet from veal
• 50g cooked ham
• Lemon grass
• 1 organic lemon
• 1 clear beef stock
• 350g porcini mushrooms
• 100-150g China Bag Pastry from your local Chinese/Asian food store.
• 800-1000g green asparagus
• 2 shallots
• 4cl dry Riesling
• 1 spoon of tomato puree/paste
• 2-3 tablespoons of chopped parsley
• 1 egg
• Butter
• 1 carton of crème fraiche
• spices: salt & pepper

 

Preparation

The asparagus:

1. Peel the lowest third of the green asparagus, which is often quite “woody” otherwise.
2. Blanch it with a little butter in salted water until it is “al dente”. Before you serve it later on, you should heat it up again by frying it shortly in brown butter, where the asparagus is allowed to gain a little colour.

The lemon grass creme:

1. Chop the lemon grass finely. Add the lemon grass and zest of lemon with the juice of half a lemon to some beef stock. At medium heat, let it reduce to the required volume. Every now and then add a little white wine and crème fraiche. A light, natural sauce which corresponds wonderfully with the fillet of the veal is created.
2. Before serving, mix it briefly with a hand-blender.

Preparation of the veal fillet:

1. Trim the fillet and spice it with salt and pepper.
2. Fry it with butter in a pan on all sides, remove and allow to cool.
3. Cut the ham and the shallots into little cubes.
4. Wash the mushrooms. If possible, do not use water, only brush them. Cut the mushrooms into little cubes.
5. Sweat the onions in a pan until they are glassy. Add the mushrooms. Cook the onions and the mushrooms together for 3-4 minutes.
6. Add the ham and tomato puree to the pan with salt and a good deal of pepper. Add the minced parsley. Remove from the oven and let it rest in the remaining heat of the pan.
7. Roll the Chinese/Phyllo pastry and place the fillet on top. Cover the top of the fillet with the “duxelles”. Whisk the egg yolk with water and brush a little of that mixture onto the corners of the pastry. Wrap the fillet in the pastry till it is completely covered.
8. Press the pastry and the fillet sufficiently, removing all air pockets that may cause the pastry to separate. Brush the pastry completely with yolk.
9. Preheat the oven.
10. Place the pastry “bag” in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes at 150°C.
11. The pastry should turn golden brown in color.
12. Check occasionally if the fillet is still a little pink. When this point is reached, let it rest for another 3-4 minutes in the remaining heat.

Serving suggestion

• Arrange the asparagus fan-shaped on a decorative dish.
• Place the sliced fillet onto the same dish and cover it partly by using the lemon creme.
• Additionally one could serve new little "mouse potatoes" or "triplets", fried in whole pieces.
• As beverage, serve a dry white "asparagus wine".