Roasted Beef Fillet with Porcini

Jens Knight

Ingredients

1 handful dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in ca. 10 ounces of boiling water for 15 minutes (most important ingredient!)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and 1 chopped
3 large tablespoons of butter
12-18 slices of Parma ham (other Italian raw ham)
Ca. 2-pound beef fillet in one piece (cut from the middle if possible)
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 handful of fresh rosemary and thyme, leaves stripped and chopped, mixed with the juice of one lemon
2 glasses of dry red wine

Preheat the oven to 230°C (446°F) with a sufficiently large roasting pan in it.
Squeeze out the mushrooms (don't discard the water) and sauté them with the chopped garlic in 1 tablespoon of butter. After 1 minute, pour in half of the mushroom water through a fine sieve and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, spread the ham on parchment paper on work surface, making sure to close any gaps between the slices.
Season the fillet with salt and pepper and roll it in the herbs.
Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper, stir in 1 squeeze of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of butter. Spread the moist mixture over the lower half of the ham.
Place the fillet on top and slowly roll the whole thing up, making sure the ham wraps evenly around the meat.
Peel back the paper and tuck in the edges of the ham. Loosely tie the roll in four places with kitchen string. How you do this doesn't matter; the important thing is that it holds
Place the meat with the whole garlic cloves in the hot roasting pan and roast in the oven: after 25-30 minutes it will still be rare, after 40 minutes it will be medium-rare, and after 50 minutes it will be well-done. Add the wine halfway through.
Let it rest on a board for 5 minutes and save all remaining juices. Simmer these briefly on the stovetop, to create light red wine sauce.
Serve with sauce and cooked potatoes or green vegetables (we love sautéed spinach!).