Beef Wellington with Spinach and Bacon

Remove the beef fillet from the fridge at least 30 minutes before you do any other food prep to ensure the meat is at room temperature. Pat dry and season well with salt and pepper. I used some finally chopped rosemary for extra flavour. Tip: roll the meat on a plate to get an even covering of seasoning. Heat the oil in a pan until very hot and sear all sides of the meat, keep turning with tongs to brown all the sides well. Set the meat on a plate to cool and catch juices. Tip: do not clean the pan, you will use this to make the gravy, and pour in any meat juices that come from the meat cooling on the plate.

Put the spinach in a colander and pour boiling water over to wilt it completely, then pour cold water to stop the cooking and cool it down. Squeeze as hard as you can to extract as much water out of the spinach as possible. Tip: leave spinach in the colander to keep draining water while you prep the next stage. Lay clingfilm over your board or worktop and lay your streaky bacon or panchetta in overlapping rows. Cover with another layer of clingfilm and use a rolling pin to roll out into a thin layer. Add a layer of spinach on top of the bacon and lay the clingfilm on top and use the rolling pin again to flatten the spinach and spread evenly over the layer of bacon. Carefully remove the top layer of clingfilm and place the beef on top (I added a thin spread of English mustard all over the beef before placing it on top of the spinach and bacon. You don't have to do this, but I couldn't resist). Use the outer sides of the cling film to guide the filling around the beef. Keep rolling this round in a similar fashion as wrapping a burrito, and finally tighten as well as you can with the cling film. Tip: place in the freezer for up to 30 mins to chill and firm up

Roll out your pastry on your worktop and carefully unwrap your beef wrapped in the bacon and spinach and place on the pasty. Using the egg yolk to seal the edges, wrap the pastry around the beef into a parcel. I lightly scored the top of the wellington with a sharp knife for presentation and a crispy top. Finally, I used more egg yolk to coat the wellington well and sprinkled a touch of sea salt on top before transferring to the oven. Place sealed side down in a preheated over at 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and cook for 25 mins for rare, 30 mins for medium and 45 for well done.

While the wellington is in the oven, make a start on the gravy using the same pan you seared the beef in earlier. Fry the shallot, thyme and bay leaf in the pan, scraping the base of the pan to loosen any crispy bits of beef stuck to the bottom for added flavour. Once the shallot has cooked through, add flour and brown. Next, add your red wine and cook down for 2 mins. Once the wine has reduced, add 500 ml of water and simmer for 5 mins. After a final taste for seasoning and you are happy with the consistency and flavour of the gravy, pass it through a sieve to ensure it's smooth and silky.

Once the wellington has finished cooking, remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 mins before carving. Cut into generous slices and serve immediately with greens and gravy.