I recently had the honor of working with a friend to prepare and serve a wedding celebration dinner for some friends of ours. My job was to make the Beef Wellington. I was a little intimidated since I had never made Beef Wellington before, but I hoped I could rise to the challenge. I used a recipe from “Cook’s Illustrated” and combined it with a recipe from “Delish.com” and then made some of my own adjustments. You could make this in one day, but it is so much better to split it up into 3 days… and a lot easier on the nerves!
Here is what I came up with…
Beef Wellington
Ingredients
1 (3 lb.) center-cut beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil, for greasing
2 T. Dijon mustard
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. mixed mushrooms, roughly chopped
6-8 shallots, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 t. minced fresh thyme
1T. Madeira
8 T. unsalted butter
12-24 thin slices prosciutto (depending on the length of the tenderloin)Flour, for dusting
14 oz. frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 large egg, beaten
Flaky salt, for sprinkling
Directions
Day 1
· Using kitchen twine, tie tenderloin in 4 places (or have your butcher tie up the tenderloin). Season generously with salt. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
· Make duxelles: In a food processor, pulse mushrooms, shallots, and garlic until finely chopped. To skillet, add butter and melt over medium heat. Add mushroom mixture and cook until liquid has evaporated, about 30-45 minutes. Add the Madeira and stir for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the thyme and stir well. Season with salt and pepper, then let cool. Store in airtight container overnight.
Day 2
· Over high heat, coat bottom of a heavy skillet with olive oil. Once pan is nearly smoking, sear tenderloin until well-browned on all sides, including the ends, about 2 minutes per side (12 minutes total). Transfer to a plate. When cool enough to handle, snip off twine and coat all sides with mustard. Let cool in fridge.
· Place plastic wrap down on a work surface, overlapping so that it’s twice the length and width of the tenderloin. Shingle the prosciutto on the plastic wrap into a rectangle that’s big enough to cover the whole tenderloin. Spread the duxelles evenly and thinly over the prosciutto. (For a video that shows how to do this, check out https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a58702/easy-beef-wellington-recipe/ )
· Season tenderloin, then place it at the bottom of the prosciutto. Roll meat into prosciutto-mushroom mixture, using plastic wrap to roll tightly. Tuck ends of prosciutto as you roll, then twist ends of plastic wrap tightly into a log and transfer to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
· Lightly flour your work surface, then spread out puff pastry and roll it into a rectangle that will cover the tenderloin (just a little bigger than the prosciutto rectangle you just made!). Brush the pastry with egg wash. Remove tenderloin from plastic wrap and place on bottom of puff pastry. Tightly roll beef into pastry. Once the log is fully covered in puff pastry, trim any extra pastry, then fold the ends under to seal well. Wrap roll in plastic wrap to get a really tight cylinder, then chill overnight.
Day 3
· Remove plastic wrap, then transfer roll to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bring to room temperature. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with flaky salt.
· Bake at 450°F until pastry is golden (40-45 minutes) and the center registers 85°F for medium-rare. Remove from the oven and let rest about 45 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 130°F before carving and serving. (A digital meat thermometer is great for this!) Enjoy!
