GBBO week 5 - Pie

I was excited about this week's bake. Entirely sated with sweet food and fairly short on time, a savoury dish that could count as Sunday dinner seemed ideal. As tempting as it was to find myself a wooden dolly and start hand raising pies (it can't be just me that envisages a pork pie suckling on a bottle of milk), I decided to plump for the Wellington option for this week's Bake Off challenge. Should I ever feel the need to spend hours making pork pies that I can buy from any petrol station Delia reckons a deep muffin tin is all you need. And anchovy paste, whatever that is.

I have never made a Beef Wellington, nor have I attempted proper homemade puff pastry so I decided not to mess with a classic. Clearly the most painful part of this bake would be parting with the money for the beef fillet. Gordon Ramsay's recipe suggests 750g of meat, which would have cost over £26. That's more than I would spend on meat for our family of four in a fortnight, so I bought a third less.

A layer of duxelle (paste of diced mushroom, shallot and herb) seemed risky, but essential for flavour. I was concerned about excess mushroom juices ruining my pastry. Also the children are both phobic about mushrooms even though I secretly sneak them into all manner of foodstuffs. A stand-off over the dinner table needed to be averted or tears would flow, probably mine. Gordon's addition of Parma ham, wrapping the duxelle to the fillet was extravagant, but I could see the wisdom. Another £2.99. As we drove away from the supermarket, I felt quite hysterical. Even childish jokes about eating wellington boots made me laugh.

In fear of ruining the luxurious cut of meat, I very nearly defrosted a pack of all butter puff from the freezer. Here are the photos to prove I didn't. Yes, that is an entire pat of butter.

I actually found it quite soothing to make my own puff pastry, and the endless short periods of "resting" time between rolling are very handy for getting those irritating little DIY jobs done.

With the pastry made, the meat seared, smeared (with mustard and the duxelle), wrapped in Parma and chilled, I felt very serene. I just needed to bring everything together, eggwash and then leave it to rest once more.What could go wrong?

Suffice to say a tantrum of epic proportions involving homework, a late night and hunger whipped any smug grins from my face. Sacrificing the final essential rest for the pastry, I hurled the Wellington into a not-quite-up-to-temperature oven.

It smelt wonderful cooking. It looked less good as the pastry began to slide off the meat. I am not sure why this happened because the meat was well chilled before the pastry went around it. I think the lack of resting and a low oven temp might be to blame. Ultimately it looked less than perfect but the beef tasted great and was deliciously tender and there was no soggy bottom!

I plan to make an inside-out version with a pork fillet. I'll hammer the pork out flat, lay on the Parma ham, then the duxelle, roll it all up and cover with puff pastry. I might even make my own pastry again. Tonight's programme is sponge puddings, Queen of puddings and strudel. Can I do all three?