The last time I made Beef Wellington, I was still in school and living at home, so it was 1970 something.
I drove across town to a specialty grocer to get the beef tenderloin, spent a hoooge amount of money, and made it for Sunday dinner one week.
And…
It was good. But not as good as this Beef Wellington, made with French puff pastry
and a tenderloin I was able to order from one of our local markets.
It was pretty simple, too, once you have the Bacon Jam and Duxelles sorted out.
INGREDIENTS
•2-1/2 to 3 lb beef tenderloin
•Frozen puff pastry, thawed
•Salt
•Pepper
•12 oz Bacon Jam, at room temperature
•1 batch Duxelles
•1 egg
•1 tbsp water
Heat your oven to 425º.
Place the beef in a lightly greased roasting pan and season with the salt and pepper.
Roast for 30 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part the the beef reads 130º.
Remove from the oven, transfer to a plate, cover, and stash in the fridge for one hour.
Heat your oven back to 425º and line a roasting pan with parchment paper.
Whisk the egg with the water in a small bowl and set aside.
Unroll one sheet of puff pastry on the parchment paper in the roasting pan.
Note: I ended up using two sheets of puff pastry to completely cover my beef.
Spread the Duxelles to within one inch of the edge of the pastry, then spread the bacon jam on top of that.
Position the beef in the center of the pastry, then bring the sides up and over, pinching the two sides together to seal.
Note: this did not work for me, which is why I used the second sheet to pastry. If you are successful, tuck the sides in and flip the pastry over, so that it is lying seam side down in the roasting pan.
Flipped or not, brush the pastry with the egg and water mixture, then bake for another 30 minutes, until the pasty in gold brown and the thermometer reads 140º.
Remove from the oven and let rest for ten minutes before carving and serving.
This was lovely; perfectly pink, just as we like it. If you prefer your beef more well done, I would suggest bumping up the first roasting time.
We had leftovers, so, a couple of days later, I loosely covered a couple of slices with foil and popped ’em into a hot 250º oven for about 25 minutes.
Every bit as good as on Christmas Day.