Just look at this massive thing! I took this photo before dividing it up. You would only need to serve each person half, or maybe even a third of this Beef Wellington. But I have to say it was incredible! I have always associated Beef Wellingtons with Pate, which is something I just can’t stomach, but this one is simple and uses ingredients I love. I served it with crispy baby potatoes, carrots, broccoli and a red wine jus (which isn’t in the photo because I don’t serve it to the kids) It was a quick meal for Mr8 before he headed out for a Kindy Committee Meeting. These meetings can take quite a while, so I knew he needed something substantial before he left.
It certainly lived up to the “Feed The Man Meat” jingle, remember that one? Now I have the song going round and around in my head. What would I do differently? Well, next time I’ll make my parcels about 1/3 of the size so everyone gets their own Wellington, and I will be making this again, maybe even for guests. Other than that, I love it the way it is.
Beef Wellington
Ingredients:
2 Tbl Olive Oil
40g Butter
1/2 Onion, diced
500g Button Mushrooms, thinly sliced
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
6 ( about 150g each, 2cm thick) beef fillet steaks
6 sheets (25cm x 25cm) ready rolled puff pastry
1 Egg, lightly whisked
Red Wine Reduction:
75ml/2½fl oz red wine
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
30g/1oz butter
pinch salt
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 200C.
Lightly grease a couple of baking trays.
Heat half of the oil with the butter in a frying pa over medium heat until the butter is foaming.
Add the onions and cook, stirring for 2 minutes or until brown.
Increase the heat to high and add the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender.
Remove the mixture from the heat and season with salt and pepper.
Set aside to cool until needed.
Heat the remaining oil in your pan over high heat.
Add the steaks and cook for 1 minute each side to seal.
Season with salt and pepper and set aside for 15 minutes to cool.
Cut your pastry sheets into 17 x 21 cm rectangles (unlike me!)
Divide onion/mushroom mixture evenly between each sheet of pastry, placing it down the centre of your sheets of pastry to cover an area roughly the size of a piece of steak, leaving a wide edge for folding.
Place one piece of steak on top of the onion/mushroom mixture.
Fold the pastry over the steak to form a parcel and press the edges to seal.
Place each Wellington on your baking trays, seam side down and brush lightly with the beaten egg.
Bake in your preheated oven for 15 minutes for medium steak, or until the pastry is golden brown and puffed.
Remove from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes to rest.
For the Red Wine Jus:
Add the red wine to the pan used to cook the steak, retaining the steak juices. Bring to a simmer, then add the red wine vinegar, butter and salt and cook for 1-2 minutes, until thickened slightly.
Drizzle over each Wellington before serving.
Adapted from a recipe found at: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/7025/beef+wellingtons