Fillet of beed in phyllo pastry with madiera sauce

Ingredients:
3lb filet mignon, trimmed
salt
2 tbsp sweet butter
1/2 lb mushrooms minced and thoroughly dried
2 shallots, minced
1 package phillo pastry
1/2 cup melted butter
Madiera sauce



Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub filet with salt. In a heavy skillet sear the meat over high heat in sweet butter until brown on all sides to seal in the juices. Set aside. In the same pan, saute mushrooms and shallots for 2-3 minutes or until soft. Set aside. Layer 12 pcs of phyllo pastry together, brushing each layer with melted butter. Spread about half of the mushroom mixture on the pastry and place the seared beef on top. Then place remaining mushrooms on top of filet and fold the phyllo dough around the filet. Prepare an additional 5-6 layers of phyllo pastry, each brushed with butter. Seal all the edges by overlapping them with this additional pastry and brush with butter. Place beef in buttered baking pan and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes or until pastry is browned and flaky. Remove beek to a serving dish and serve with sauce.




Brown Sauce - secret is use good quality strong beef stock and simmer the sauce very slowly.

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1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 cup diced celery
4 tbsp diced lean bacon, blanched and drained
4 tbsp clarified butter
4 tbsp flour
8 cups beef stock, boiling
3 tbsp tomato paste
4 large sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a heavy 2-quate saucepan, saute the vegetables and the bacon in the butter until soft. Slowly blend in the flour and stir constantly over meduim heat for approx. 10 minutes or until the flour is golden brown. Remove from the head and add the beef stock all at once. Stirring constantly. Stir in the tomato paste and add the herbs. Simmer very slowly, partly covered for at least 2 hoursl the longer the sauce is simmer the better it will be. Stir occassionaly and skim off any fat or scum from the top. When the sauce is the consistency of heavy cream, correct the seasoning and strain through fine sieve.