Live and Learn

So often when we share our posts, we pick the best pictures and camouflage our mistakes. If that’s not possible, then we’ll try the recipe again on another day, fixing the mistakes of the first attempt, while often creating new mistakes.

Beef Wellington is one of my favorite recipes. It’s also a very complicated dish to make. One that is equally expensive. Let’s start with the fact that a true Wellington is made by wrapping either individual Filet Mignons or an entire Beef Tenderloin (from which the Filets are cut) in a delicate puff pastry. If you mess up, it’s a costly mistake.

There are two reasons that I adore Beef Wellington – the first is the puff pastry and the second are the sautéed mushrooms. When I came across a recipe for poor man’s version of Beef Wellington, I thought do I dare? Ground Beef Wellington? Hum, I was a skeptic. As it turns out, the dish itself wasn’t all that complicated nor difficult. However; mistakes are still possible. Only with ground beef as your choice of meat, it’s not nearly as hard on the pocket book, should you fail.

So what went wrong? The paper. I thought rather than flour a board to roll out my puff pastry, I’d save some cleanup time by lining my cutting board with paper. That would have been fine, had I selected a waxed paper or bothered to dust the paper with a little flour first. No, I decided to use a thicker, dryer paper – a butcher’s paper. What happened? The pastry stuck to the paper, making it impossible to neatly and beautifully enclosed the beef in pastry. It was a mess. Thank goodness, I decided to hide this with a mushroom gravy. So while not the prettiest of Wellingtons, it was tasty. Live and learn.

Ground Beef Wellington
10 fresh Brown Mushrooms, divided
4 tablespoons finely minced Shallots, divided
2 tablespoon Butter, divided
1 lb lean Ground Beef
Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste
1 sheet refrigerated Puff Pastry
2 teaspoons Flour
1/2 cup Half-and-Half
1 cup Beef Stock or as needed

Heat oven to 425-degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

Chop half of the mushrooms, set aside. Finely mince shallot, divide in half and set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt a tablespoon of butter. Sauté chopped mushrooms until soft, about 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, set aside.

Place ground beef into a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add half of the minced shallots to the beef, mix lightly but well. Divide ground beef into 3 equal portions. Shape each portion into a loaf, set aside.

Roll out puff pastry. Cut into three rectangles large enough to cover the loaves of ground beef. Place one loaf on top of each buff pastry rectangle. Divide sautéed mushrooms, spread over the top of each loaf. Sift shorter ends of the pastry, fold over the ends of the loaf. Draw up longer ends, pinch over the top center of the meat to enclose. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake Wellington in the heated oven for about 25 minutes, or until pastry is puffed, golden and the meat is cooked through.

Meanwhile, chop remaining 5 mushrooms. Melt remaining butter in a saucepan. Sauté chopped mushrooms until soft. Add remaining minced shallots, continue to sauté until shallots are lightly browned. Sprinkle mushroom mixture with flour, cook for 3 minutes to remove any raw taste from the flour. Add half-and-half, bring to a bubbling boil. Mixture will be a thick paste at this point. Thin to a gravy consistence by whisking in the beef stock. Simmer until ready to serve.

Remove Ground Beef Wellington from the oven, plate on individual dinner plates. Ladle Mushroom Beef Gravy over the Wellingtons, serve and enjoy.

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Here I am, Lord; I come to do Your will