This Christmas, I tackled a long-time bucket list recipe: Beef Wellington! Last year, a friend shared his adapted version of J. Kenji López-Alt’s Ultimate Beef Wellington, and I thought it was time to give it a shot!
The core of this elegant, show-stopping dish combines beef tenderloin with savory layers of mushrooms and pastry. This version shingles prosciutto on plastic wrap, then layers it with foie gras pâté and duxelles (a fine mixture of mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme cooked until deeply concentrated). The seared tenderloin is brushed with a Dijon-horseradish mixture, then rolled up in the prosciutto and mushroom layers and chilled. It’s then encased in puff pastry (#storeboughtisfine – I used Dufour brand), brushed with egg wash, and baked until the tenderloin is medium rare and the puff pastry golden!
The nice thing is you can prepare everything in advance and just pop it in the oven about an hour before you want to eat!
He also recommended a mushroom gravy to accompany (more is more here), which I was ladling directly into my mouth.
While delicious, I did encounter some moisture issues – liquid pooled at the sides and bottom, creating what Paul Hollywood would have criticized as a “soggy bottom”! I think my issues were twofold: I don’t think I cooked enough moisture out of the mushrooms, and I slightly misjudged the size of the tenderloin, leaving a gap at the bottom of the prosciutto layer that allowed liquid to seep into the pastry.
While this was time-intensive and pricey, the results were so tasty (even if a little soggy) – can’t wait to try it again next year with the lessons learned.
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Intermediate
Store-Bought Is Fine: puff pastry
Pricey Ingredients: foie gras pate, beef tenderloin
Hard-to-find: foie gras pate
Version of recipe here.
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