| CHEATER'S METHOD:
BUY pepperidge farm's puff pastry sheets (in the frozen section of major
markets)....I don't think anything is worth THAT much trouble to make
puff pastry by hand.
Get some black truffles and good pate' foi gras:
Get a PREMIUM grade tenderloin of beef (filet mignon section, not
cut into steaks.)
Traditional Beef Wellington
Rub the tenderloin with pepper, salt, and garlic to taste and roast
to a RARE (oh, okay, you CAN go medium rare, but it's not classic)
remove meat from oven and allow to cool enough to handle.
Remove all fat from meat...save au jus from meat for sauce.
ASSEMBLE:
spread top and down sides of beef with pate'(as generous as
your wallet will support - up to approx. 1/4 to 1/2 inch)
lay paper-thin slices of truffle on top of pate' - again,
this is not cheap stuff, and it is intense in flavor, so
go lightly.
wrap entire roast in puff pastry with seam side on opposite
side of meat from pate/truffle... Apply decorative puff
pastry cutouts over the base layer of pastry by "gluing"
them with water.
place roast, seam side down, on a baking sheet and bake
until the pastry is golden brown.
Serve with some kind of potato and au jus from the original roasting
of the beef.
Non-traditional methods use other pates, like mushroom pate and many
do not wrap the whole roast, but just an individual filet (1 to 1 and 1/2
inch thick), but this is the traditional method.
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| I developed this method for Wellington years ago. A 2-pound fillet
will feed 6 generously. Instead of messing with the meat thermometer,
etc., I just always use a 2-pound roast and time the cooking. I've
made it many times, and it's never failed yet! Since I fixed it
this weekend, I thought I'd put in detailed instructions while they're
still fresh in my mind.
Also, I serve a Bordelaise sauce with Wellington. Guess some purists
might object, but I think it enhances the flavor of the meat and
the pate.
Both recipes follow:
Beef Wellington
2 pound beef tenderloin roast
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons clarified butter
10 ounces goose liver pate
1 pound package Pepperidge Farm puff pastry
1 egg yolk
The night before:
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
Trim tenderloin; remove fat and periostium skin. Season meat with salt
and black pepper. Place clarified butter in a heated pan and when hot
add tenderloin and sear on all sides. This step is extremely
important, since if the juices aren't sealed in they will seep out
into the pastry.
Remove meat from pan and place in a baking dish. Put in oven for
20 minutes. Remove meat, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate
overnight.
While the meat is in the oven, deglaze the pan in which you seared
the meat with a tablespoon or two of dry red wine. Pour the resulting
liquid into a custard cup. When you remove the meat from the oven,
there will be a very small amount of liquid in the baking dish.
Pour this liquid into the custard cup, cover with Saran Wrap, and
refrigerate overnight. This will be used in the Bordelaise sauce
tomorrow.
The next afternoon (early to mid-afternoon):
Take goose liver pate out of the fridge and let it soften to room
temperature, at least an hour, preferably two. It MUST be extremely
soft.
After it has had ample time to soften:
Take pastry out of the freezer and thaw 20 - 30 minutes at room
temperature.
Roll out both sheets of puff pastry to 1/8 inch thickness. Separate
egg. Reserve white for the chocolate souffle you're going to make for
dessert.
Take beef out of fridge and remove plastic wrap. Thoroughly dry meat
with paper towels. Get out a box of crackers, remove a couple of
crackers and lay them on the counter where you are working. Using your
hands, thickly spread the pate over the top, sides, and ends of the
tenderloin. It should be 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Use all the pate.
When you have finished, DO NOT wash this precious stuff off your hands!
Take a couple of crackers and scrape your hands. Ummmmmm, good
snackin'!! NOW you can wash your hands!
Spread out one piece of the pastry on the counter. Pick up the
beef carefully and place it in the middle of the pastry. Wrap the
pastry around the meat by bringing it up the sides. It will not
meet in the middle, but will come up both sides of the meat. Leave
the ends alone for now.
Take the second sheet of pastry and lay it on top of the meat.
Carefully wrap the meat, taking the pastry and tucking it under
the bottom. Now tuck the ends under the bottom. All seams will
be on the bottom of the meat where they don't show. Now turn the
meat over and thoroughly seal all pastry seams with cold water.
With the back of a knife, mark pastry in a crisscross fashion to
form a diamond pattern. Wrap in Saran Wrap and place in fridge.
About 40 minutes before dinner time:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Remove Wellington from fridge and unwrap. Place in a shallow baking
pan and brush the top generously with beaten egg yolk. Bake for
25 minutes. Slice into 1-inch thick servings, and serve, passing
Bordelaise sauce in a separate sauce boat.
Bordelaise Sauce
1-1/2 cups fresh mushrooms, chopped
4 teaspoons butter
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 cups beef stock (I use 1 can, which isn't quite 2 cups but close
enough)
1-1/2 teaspoons dried tarragon leaves, crushed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry red wine
The custard cup of goodies you saved from the Wellington
Cook mushrooms in butter till tender. Mix cornstarch and cool beef
stock; add to mushrooms. Cook and stir till boiling. Add remaining
ingredients and a dash of freshly ground pepper. Simmer 5 to 10
minutes. Makes about 2 cups sauce.
This can be made somewhere around mid-afternoon, and kept in the
pot on the stove. Just before dinner heat it up, stirring
occasionally, till it's very hot.
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| re .2 Were are the mushrooms or truffles???
I do a similar method, but instead of using truffles at mentioned in .1, I
make a 'paste' of mushrooms. Take about 1-2 lbs of mushrooms and put into
your food processor and process until the pieces are very small. I then
put the mushrooms in a skillet and cook on medium heat with a little salt
and garlic powder until the moisture has evaporated. Let this chill while
you are putting the pate on the meat.
After the pate is in place, I then spread the chilled mushrooms on the
inside of both pastry layers before wrapping the meat/pate.
enjoy!
-Nicki
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