Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I got into a cooking frenzy and tried a couple recipes that are usually not my forte but here goes. If you have an afternoon that you would like to spend creating a special dish, this one is for you. I can’t believe it myself but I actually made Beef Wellington and biscotti and neither were very difficult. As for ingredients, everything is cheaper at Aldi’s but you need Publix for any type of specialty meat.
The Beef Wellington was over the top delicious and over the top expensive. Even when I told the butcher at Publix, I needed a beef tenderloin between 1 and 1 ½ pounds he said, “It is going to be pricey”. Uh yeah…almost 30 bucks! But it was worth it especially since we only eat meat a couple time a month. Easy ingredients if you ignore the part about making your own puff pastry – that ain’t happening when I can buy store bought. I did spring for fresh thyme. You will need kitchen twine and a food processor. If you don’t have a rolling pin, use an empty wine bottle. 1 ½ pounds serves 4. The leftovers were great too – just reheat in foil in a hot over for about 10 minutes.
- 1 ½ pound center cut beef tenderloin trimmed
- Olive oil
- 1 pack white button mushrooms (about 12 oz.
- 1 shallot cut in half
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 6 thin slices prosciutto
- 1 TBS Dijon mustard
- Flour for rolling out puff pastry
- ½ lb. store bought puff pastry thawed
- 1 large egg beaten
- ½ tsp coarse salt
Place the mushrooms, shallots, garlic and thyme in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, cook the mixture stirring until most of the liquid is evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.
Tie the tenderloin in 2 or 3 places to hold it together while cooking. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet lightly coated with olive oil until hot and sear all sides of the meat including the ends. Remove from heat and smear lightly all over with the Dijon mustard and let cool.
Take a sheet of plastic wrap and shingle the prosciutto so it forms a rectangle that is big enough to wrap over the tenderloin. Use a spatula to spread the mushroom mixtures over the prosciutto. Place the tenderloin in the middle and using the plastic wrap, wrap it up tight. Tuck in the ends of the prosciutto and twist the ends of the plastic to seal it completely and hold it in a log shape. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to maintain the shape.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
On a lightly floured surface roll out the puff pastry to form a rectangle large enough to completely encompass the prosciutto wrapped beef. Get your beaten egg ready. Remove the plastic from the beef and set it in the middle of the pastry. Fold the longer sies over the meat and brush the edges with the egg to seal. Brush the ends with the egg and fold over to completely seal the beef. Top with coarse salt and place seam-side down on a rimmed baking sheet.
Brush the top of the pastry with egg and make a few slits in the top of the pastry with a knife tip to allow steam to escape while cooking. Bake for about 30 minutes until pastry is golden brown (meat will
be medium rare so add some time if you like your meet medium to
well done).
Remove from oven and let it rest before cutting into thick slices.
