Peppered Beef Puffs

From the kitchen of Martin James – Copenhagen, Denmark

1kg (2 pounds) minced steak
3 eggs
1/2 cup packaged dry breadcrumbs
6 shallots
Salt, pepper
60g (2 ounces) butter
500g (1 pound) packet puff pastry
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Mushroom Sauce:
90g (3 ounces) butter
250g (8 ounces) button mushrooms
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 cups water
2 beef stock cubes
1/2 teaspoon basil
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt, pepper

Put meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, finely chopped shallots, salt and pepper into bowl; mix well. Divide meat into 6 equal portions. Shape into small loaves, pressing in lightly.

Heat butter in frying pan, cook loaves on all sides until golden brown, remove from pan, cool.

Cut pastry into 6 equal portions, roll out each portion to 23cm by 12cm (9in by 5in) rectangle. Put cold meatloaf into center of each pastry strip, brush edges of pastry with egg yolk mixture. Bake in hot oven 10 minutes or until golden, reduce heat to moderate, cook further 15 minutes. Serve sauce separately.

Mushroom Sauce: Heat butter in pan. Add finely sliced mushrooms, saute until mushrooms are tender. Add flour, stir until combined; cook 1 minute. Remove pan from heat, add wine, water and crumbled stock cubes. Return pan to heat, stir until sauce boils and thickens; season with salt and pepper. Add basil and tomato paste, mix well. Simmer sauce uncovered 5 minutes.

Serves 6.