Valentine's Day 2019: Beef Wellington
Ever since we started dating (and our first Valentine's day was ... less than a month after we started dating), NES and I have alternating making dinner and dessert on the Saturday closest to Feb. 14 (or in the very early years on Valentine's day itself). We'd take turns picking out a dinner (or dessert) we thought the other person would love, and we'd make it in secret, slaving away on our own in the kitchen.
(From the Valentine's Archives: 2012 2014 2015 2016)
This year, NES found a particularly challenging recipe to try: The Ultimate Beef Wellington
The recipe includes not only the Beef Wellington itself, but also roasted potatoes, wilted greens, and green peppercorn sauce. And it was billed as a 7 hour project. So he suggested we switch things up this year and work together. I was happy to oblige.
So, with all that in mind, we embarked on the most epic cooking adventure of our marriage so far.
I have to thank the meat department staff at Whole Foods for being very kind and supportive to a somewhat tentative young (do I still count as young if I'm turning 30 next week?!) woman looking to buy a huge beef tenderloin, and for kind words of support for our Beef Wellington adventure. Did you know that the beef in a Wellington is ... filet mignon? Let's just say I've never even dreamt of paying so much for meat in my life.
I cleared almost everything off the counters in the kitchen so we had space, began to assemble the ingredients and we set forth on this adventure.
I prepped the mushrooms and shallots for the mushroom filling while NES browned off the meat.
While he cooked the mushroom filling, I laid out the prosciutto (something else I had never bought in my life) to begin the wrapping process. I think this is where we saved the most time by having two people working at once!
NES prepped the beef while I "frosted" the prosciutto with mushroom goop. It kinda was like mushroom frosting. Ew. Why did I say that?
Then came the roll. This was by far the most stressful part. Well, until the puff pastry came into play. But plastic wrap was my friend, and it worked pretty well. That was one dense roll of meat and mushrooms.
We ended up having to wait quite a while at this point while the puff pastry thawed. We didn't go so all out that we made our own puff pastry. After all the expertise we got from watching the Great British Bake Off, I'm not sure why we didn't put it to use. (That's sarcasm, by the way.) Realistically, with everything else going on, we weren't ready for a 3 hour side trip for making pastry. We are going to try it sometime, but maybe in a lower stress situation. Like, when that's the only thing we're trying to make.
Then came the real most stressful part: wrapping the beef roll in pastry. It ended up working pretty well (even though I accidentally got two pie rounds). With a little patching on the bottom, it worked just fine.
The beef went in the oven, and at this point, we were free to make everything else!
N tore the greens while I prepped the potatoes for roasting. Thankfully, the potatoes and greens were super easy sides!
While everything roasted, N made the green peppercorn sauce. We waited a little too long to start that, and it did take quite a while. But we eventually got there! It was like a wonderful (if not a bit thin) gravy, with little green things in it. We both decided we preferred the sauce without the peppercorns, as they were just a bit too sharp and distracted from everything else.
Did I mention we had to flambe in there??
I made a warm dressing for the greens with balsamic and honey, and every bit of olive oil we had left in our kitchen. Oops.
And that was it! It was so astonishing coming out of the oven, we even took a selfie with it!
It was absolutely delicious. It's the best thing we've ever cooked, by far.
I am not even going to try to write out the recipe (it's so long, and I couldn't do it justice!) but enjoy the photos!
Oh yeah, multiple hours later, when our food coma ended, we had a chocolate chip cookie sundae for dessert!
By the way, it's also great as leftovers! (I think we easily could have served 10!)
This year, NES found a particularly challenging recipe to try: The Ultimate Beef Wellington
The recipe includes not only the Beef Wellington itself, but also roasted potatoes, wilted greens, and green peppercorn sauce. And it was billed as a 7 hour project. So he suggested we switch things up this year and work together. I was happy to oblige.
So, with all that in mind, we embarked on the most epic cooking adventure of our marriage so far.
I have to thank the meat department staff at Whole Foods for being very kind and supportive to a somewhat tentative young (do I still count as young if I'm turning 30 next week?!) woman looking to buy a huge beef tenderloin, and for kind words of support for our Beef Wellington adventure. Did you know that the beef in a Wellington is ... filet mignon? Let's just say I've never even dreamt of paying so much for meat in my life.
I cleared almost everything off the counters in the kitchen so we had space, began to assemble the ingredients and we set forth on this adventure.
I prepped the mushrooms and shallots for the mushroom filling while NES browned off the meat.
While he cooked the mushroom filling, I laid out the prosciutto (something else I had never bought in my life) to begin the wrapping process. I think this is where we saved the most time by having two people working at once!
NES prepped the beef while I "frosted" the prosciutto with mushroom goop. It kinda was like mushroom frosting. Ew. Why did I say that?
Then came the roll. This was by far the most stressful part. Well, until the puff pastry came into play. But plastic wrap was my friend, and it worked pretty well. That was one dense roll of meat and mushrooms.
We ended up having to wait quite a while at this point while the puff pastry thawed. We didn't go so all out that we made our own puff pastry. After all the expertise we got from watching the Great British Bake Off, I'm not sure why we didn't put it to use. (That's sarcasm, by the way.) Realistically, with everything else going on, we weren't ready for a 3 hour side trip for making pastry. We are going to try it sometime, but maybe in a lower stress situation. Like, when that's the only thing we're trying to make.
Our stuffed moose, Christmasmoose supervised.
Then came the real most stressful part: wrapping the beef roll in pastry. It ended up working pretty well (even though I accidentally got two pie rounds). With a little patching on the bottom, it worked just fine.
The beef went in the oven, and at this point, we were free to make everything else!
N tore the greens while I prepped the potatoes for roasting. Thankfully, the potatoes and greens were super easy sides!
While everything roasted, N made the green peppercorn sauce. We waited a little too long to start that, and it did take quite a while. But we eventually got there! It was like a wonderful (if not a bit thin) gravy, with little green things in it. We both decided we preferred the sauce without the peppercorns, as they were just a bit too sharp and distracted from everything else.
Did I mention we had to flambe in there??
I made a warm dressing for the greens with balsamic and honey, and every bit of olive oil we had left in our kitchen. Oops.
Upon having a moment to take stock, we didn't even make too big of a mess!
And that was it! It was so astonishing coming out of the oven, we even took a selfie with it!
About 4 hour after starting, we were ready to eat! Cutting into it was terrifying, but it came out so well!
It was absolutely delicious. It's the best thing we've ever cooked, by far.
I am not even going to try to write out the recipe (it's so long, and I couldn't do it justice!) but enjoy the photos!
By the way, it's also great as leftovers! (I think we easily could have served 10!)
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