Recipes to Rival, and I’m SOOOO Embarrassed

This month, little ol’ me had the opportunity to choose what we made for Recipes to Rival, a group of cooks who experiment with savory dishes.  For some reason that I cannot fathom, I thought posting day was July 5.  The reason I can’t figure out why I thought that is because we always post on the first of the month.

I blame a Brain Fart.  Please forgive me!  So, while I usually post something for Frugal Fridays, today I am posting my R2R pick – Beef Wellington.

Now, there are a lot of Beef Wellington recipes out there, so I perused books, the internet, and magazines until I cobbled together a recipe that I thought might take the best of the bunch.  Basically, the dish is made up of several components:  beef, topped with a mushroom mixture called duxelles, foie gras, all of which are wrapped in a puff pastry crust.  Instead of the foie gras, I used a truffle mousse that I found at Whole Foods.

My photos leave a lot to be desired, but the dish was a huge success.  Basically, my husband ate both our shares, but I did get a couple nibbles.  I am not a fan of meat, but even I thought this tasted pretty good.  He was a bit skeptical at first, but by the time he was digging into my share, he had asked me to put the Beef Wellington on the “repeat list.”

The beauty of this dish is that you have so much flexibility – use any protein that you like, and adjust the seasoning accordingly.  If you go the vegetarian route, I suggest you use tempeh or seitan, because tofu is far too wet for this dish, and will leave the crust a soggy mess.

Do not be afraid to make this dish – it is not difficult.  There are three keys to making this:  first, look for good beef sales, and stash the meat away for the day you want to prepare this.  Beef tenderloin is not cheap, but I did manage to find some on sale for about $6.00/lb.  Second, prepare the duxelles in advance.  Third, mise en place – meaning, have everything prepped and ready to go when you make this.  You can find a helpful  Gordon Ramsey video online on how to make his version of Beef Wellington, using Parma ham wrapped around the fillet instead of the foie gras.

I want to thank Lori of Lip Smacking Goodness for allowing me to pick this month’s recipe, and for gently reminding me that my post was not up!  A class act, that Lori!  Now, please check out the blogroll to see what others did with the recipe, which you can find after the jump.

Beef Wellington

For the Duxelles:

• 3 pints (1 1/2 pounds) white button mushrooms
• 2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Beef:

• 1 (3-pound) center cut beef tenderloin (filet mignon), trimmed
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• Flour, for rolling out puff pastry
• 1 pound puff pastry, thawed if using frozen (follow directions on the package)
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces mousse pate, available in specialty cheese and appetizer cases of larger markets (optional)

Directions

To make the Duxelles:

Add mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add butter and olive oil to a large saute pan and set over medium heat. Add the shallot and mushroom mixture and saute for 8 to 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool completely.

To prepare the beef:

Tie the tenderloin in 4 places so it holds its cylindrical shape while cooking. Drizzle with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper and sear all over, including the ends, in a hot, heavy-based skillet lightly coated with olive oil – about 2 to 3 minutes.

Using a rubber spatula cover evenly with a thin layer of duxelles. Season the surface of the duxelles with salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves. When the beef is seared, remove from heat, cut off twine and smear lightly all over with Dijon mustard. Allow to cool completely.

I made the duxelles and seared the tenderloin about 10 hours in advance, and refrigerated both of them.  It is important that these items are cold because you will be working with puff pastry, and if they’re warm, they may cause the dough to melt before you get it in the oven.

About an hour before you plan to serve the Beef Wellington, preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry out to about a 1/4-inch thickness. Depending on the size of your sheets you may have to overlap 2 sheets and press them together.

Spread the duxelles mixture down in a column down the middle of the rolled out puff pastry.  Thinly slice the mousse and cover the duxelles with it – every square millimeter doesn’t have to be covered, but you’re trying to make sure that every serving gets beef, duxelle, and mousse.

Remove beef from refrigerator. Set the beef in the center of the pastry and brush all the edges of the pastry with egg wash.  Fold the longer sides over the beef, and seal. Trim ends if necessary then brush with egg wash and fold over to completely seal the beef – saving ends to use as a decoration on top if desired. Place the beef seam side down on a baking sheet.

Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash then make a couple of slits in the top of the pastry using the tip of a paring knife – this creates vents that will allow the steam to escape when cooking. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until pastry is golden brown and beef registers 125 degrees F (rare) on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from oven and rest before cutting into 3/4-inch thick slices.