Today’s post is a savoury number. Inspired by dishes found on gastropub menus, Marks & Spencer’s Gastropub range is ever expanding. In our house we are a huge fan of their Runny Scotch Eggs and have subsequently been eyeing up their Gastropub Beef Wellington for some time. At £14.99 it’s on the expensive side for a ready meal, but on this occasion we are taking the plunge.
Cooking couldn’t be simpler. Place on a baking tray, pop in the oven for 25 minutes, and hey presto it should be a beautiful medium / rare.
British beef fillet with rich mushroom and chicken liver duxelle, wrapped in all butter puff pastry.
First observation – you are in a fighting battle between not over cooking the fillet and having raw pastry. After 25 minutes it was certainly not medium / rare, not even medium, and the pastry was questionably soggy in parts. Second observation, the fillet is tiny, like really tiny, and no-one wishes for a tiny fillet steak. Of the pastry that was cooked it was crisp, buttery and everything puff pastry should be. The fillet was tender and had a meaty flavour, but too overcooked for my liking. The duxelle was earthy and rich, but very wet with the richness in flavour overpowering the fillet. The culprit for the soggy pastry was defiantly down to the duxelle.
A big disappointment really. Does the product match up to the price? Not in my eyes. If you are going to charge £14.99 for a Beef Wellington, beef being the operative word, you at least need the star of the dish, to shine; and shine it did not.
Have you tried Marks and Spencers Gastropub range? What’s your thoughts and feelings? Leave your comments below.
Nibbles ‘n’ Scribbles x
Thirty something blogging since 2014. I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Please feel free to leave a comment below, I love hearing from you all.
Hi we bought this yesterday for a special dinner with friends last night. I cooked it as per instructions.
The pastry was delicious….the steak was certainly not fillet…it was tough and tasteless…. a great disappointment from a company I have come to expect more of.
Bought this last week to try, thinking to have it for Christmas Day for change. Awful, very poor major lack of beef fillet in this Wellington !!!! Think i’d Buy the beef fillet on it own guaranteed to get the beef then.
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Terrible wasn’t it. So surprised about the quality I certainly expected more from them.
Marks & Spencer never fail to disappoint – Its proven time and time again for me haha. Defo will be avoiding this Beef-less Wellington 😀 x
It’s not just the sweet thats disappointing. The new range just isn’t hitting the spot at all is it!
Oh that seems a bit disappointing especially for the price. Like the review it’s good to read reviews that are factual and honest, not sure now if I’d purchase this.
Thanks Ellie. You’d be better off buying a fillet steak and enjoying that 🙂 x