Beef Wellington

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 If you have ever come across with a piece of Filet Mignon wrapped on a golden layer of puff pastry, you know how delicious is this decadent dish, and this is one of those recipes that strike my culinary cords and put me in a "I want to make this dish" mode. 

Several years ago while I was doing my grocery shopping I found center cut beef tenderloin on sale and I immediately think about the Beef Wellington, and like it was the first time I was going to make it and in case my recipe fails at least I won't be wasting a lot of money, because this meat cut is a little bit expensive for our daily budget.  I am so happy that I made it, because it is so delicious and it is not really difficult to make, but it does take time to make it, so plan ahead and save several hours of your day to make this delicious Beef Wellington.

As several fine dishes it's exact origin is unknown, but the speculation that is widely accepted is that it was created to celebrate Arthur Wellesley, Irish general of the British Army that became the first Duke of Wellington. 

Jump to Recipe

There are few tricks to make this delicious treat, like make ahead the mushrooms mix a day before, instead of making the puff pastry from scratch you can use frozen puff pastry and some more that you can learn while watching this video on Youtube. 

 

Beef Wellington Prep time: 2 hrs Baking time: 25-40 min Servings: 8-10  Ingredients:   3 pounds Fillet Mignon ( center cut beef tenderloin)    1/2 cup pancetta (4 oz)    2 small shallots, chopped   1 1⁄2 cups cremini mushrooms, chopped   1 cups shiitake mushroom, chopped   1 1⁄2 cups white mushroom, chopped   28 oz frozen puff pastry, thawed   1-2  medium egg, beaten   1 sprig fresh rosemary   1 sprig fresh thyme   1/2 cups dry vermouth   6-8 prosciutto slices, thin   2 tbsp unsalted butter   3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)   3 tbsp dijon mustard   Salt and pepper to taste Procedure I like to prepare the mushroom mix the night before I will bake the Beef Wellington and I will use the same pan to seared the beef pieces, so do not wash your pan.  Over a sauté  pan on medium heat cook pancetta, until it starts to brown and transfer it to a plate lined with a paper towel In the same pan  increase the temperature  to medium high and add the butter, when the butter is warm add the shallots and sauté until they are nice and translucent.  Add the cooked pancetta, stir and add the mushrooms.  Cook until the mushrooms liquid is released and reduced, about 7 minutes. Stir constantly.  After the liquid is cooked, reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook until the mushrooms mix starts to brown and you can see the bottom of your pan, you can add a little bit of olive oil if the mix starts to stick on your pan, this will take you about 15 -20 minutes.  Add the fresh herbs and season to taste with sea salt and pepper.  Like pancetta is salty you do not need to add a lot of salt. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the dry vermouth, stir  2 more minutes and scrape the sides of the pan for better flavor.  Transfer this mix to a bowl and let it cool down. Refrigerate for next day. Season each piece of beef with salt and pepper. Heat the same pan where you prepared the mushrooms  to medium hight add 2 tbsp EVOO and seared the beef pieces all sides for about two minutes per side.  Transfer to a plate. Once they are cool rub dijon mustard. Over a plastic paper ( 15 in x 15in ) arrange the prosciutto overlapping the slices slightly and add  an even layer of the mushroom mix.  5. Arrange the beef on top of the mushroom mix and put the smaller pieces of on the edges and the big ones in the center. I like to put a little bit of the mushrooms in between each slice. Wrap the plastic paper over the beef and make a little bundle. Use bakers twine and wrap the bundle as tightly as you can. Transfer this bundle to the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.  Preheat oven at 400ºF    7. Over a working surface place a piece of parchment paper, add a little bit of flour and place your puff pastry and roll it until you have a 15 inches by 13 inches rectangle approximately. Transfer the parchment with the puff pastry to a baking sheet.      8. Unwrap the beef bundle and place it on the center of the puff pastry and cover all the beef bundle with the puff  pastry, trying to cover all the beef form all sides, tucking the puff pastry over the ends of the beef, roll the bundle so the seam is facing down. Brush with  the beaten egg or egg wash all over.     9. Roll another piece of puff pastry and roll down a pastry roller to make pastry cut out design and place it on top of the beef.  Brush egg on top and sprinkle few leaves of rosemary and coarse salt.    10. Insert a digital thermometer in the center and set it  at 130ºF , for medium rare ( If you like rare pieces you can set it to 120ºF ).  A well sone beef needs to have an internal temperature of 145 ºF.   11. Bake between 25-40 minutes depending on how you like the beef.  20-25 minutes will yield medium rare to well done pieces.  You can change timing depending on your preferences,    12. Remove form oven and let it rest for 10 minutes, slice and enjoy!