Individual beef wellingtons
Ingredients - Duxelles
300g clean mushrooms, roughly broken into pieces
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 large shallots, minced
1½ tbsp thickened cream
¾ tsp madeira (optional)
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves
Ingredients - Beef Wellington
4 thick, lean, pieces beef tenderloin, approx. 200g each
1 tbsp olive oil
100g cognac pate
1 sheet ready-made puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
Ingredients - Red Wine Sauce
½ cup red wine
30g unsalted butter
¾ cup tomato ketchup
3 sprigs fresh thyme
½ cup beef stock
Method - Duxelles
Process half the mushrooms in a food processor until finely chopped, but not ground. Place in a medium sized bowl and repeat with remaining mushrooms. Heat butter in a *Le Creuset 28cm Sauté Pan over low-medium heat until butter is foaming. Sauté shallots until softened but not brown. Increase heat to medium-high; stir in mushrooms and continue to sauté stirring frequently for 7-10 minutes or until most of the liquid given off by mushrooms has evaporated. Add cream, Madeira, salt and pepper and continue to cook until mixture is dry. Remove from heat and stir in thyme. Allow to cool refrigerated for at least 2 hours.
Method - Beef Wellington
Heat oil in a *Le Creuset 28cm Sauté Pan until hot. Set tenderloins in pan and sear until well browned on both sides. Approximately 1 minute each side. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely. Do not wash pan. Lightly dust pastry sheet with flour; cut into quarters and using a rolling pin gently stretch pastry so that each square is approximately 12cm per side.
Brush edges of pastry with beaten egg. Divide duxelles between pastry and spread to edges allowing a 1cm border. Spread paté evenly over one side of each tenderloin. Place one tenderloin, paté side down onto the centre of each prepared pastry square. Bring the four corners of pastry up to meet into the middle gently pressing together. Gently press sides together to close, forming a pocket around the beef. Place beef Wellington on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated 180ºC oven for 10 minutes (rare) or maximum 20 minutes (well done).
Method - Red Wine Sauce
Whilst beef Wellingtons are cooking. Re-heat previously used sauté pan. Add red wine and continue to heat over a medium heat until most of the wine has evaporated, stirring to release any browned bits on bottom of pan . Stir in tomato ketchup, thyme and stock. Allow to reduce to approximately ½ cup. Add butter and adjust seasoning.
Remove beef Wellingtons from oven and serve immediately with red wine sauce.
SERVES 4
*Le Creuset 28cm Saute Pan available in Cherry Red, French Blue or Granite. RRP $259.00
