This is a departure from me. Usually on here, I’m tweaking and rating recipes from my bookshelf, but last night for Christmas Eve I tried my hand at creating my own recipe! I love the idea of beef Wellington - who wouldn’t? Filet mignon and pastry! The catch is that neither I nor my husband likes mushrooms or offal, so the standard filling was a no-go and it was just for the two of us so a full filet wouldn't work.
Our favorite special occasion/celebration meal during the pandemic has been the butcher box from a steakhouse in Palo Alto, Sundance. We order raw steaks to cook at home along with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. To mimic that, I thought the filling for the wellingtons could have spinach, some cheese, and some caramelized shallots. Let me know what you think!
Ingredients:
3 large shallots, cut into thin rings
3-4 c. baby spinach
½ a Boursin Cheese (garlic & herb)
1 clove garlic
1 sheet Pepperidge Farm puff pastry per steak - defrosted in the fridge overnight
Dijon mustard
7-9oz filet mignon steaks
1 egg (whisked with 2 TB water)
There’s a bit of prep ahead of time.
Start by sautéing the shallots low and slow in 2 TB olive oil until they are soft and golden brown - about 15 minutes. Add the whole garlic clove for the last 4-5 minutes. Scrape them into a Cuisinart to cool. In the same pan, add another 2 TB olive oil and sauté the spinach on medium low heat until wilted. Spinach gives off a lot of liquid - the mortal enemy of crisp pastry - so you’ll need to squeeze it in paper towels (or with your bare hands if you’ve cooled it). Once it’s as dry as you can get it, throw it in the Cuisinart along with the Boursin cheese. Blitz until smooth and add salt and pepper to taste.
Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and salt/pepper well. Sear in a hot skillet for 3 minutes per side, on all sides. Refrigerate. From what I’ve read, this allows the steak to be baked for enough time to cook the pastry.
Take a sheet of cling wrap, lay it on the counter. Place 3-4 prosciutto slices, slightly overlapping on the cling wrap. Smear the spinach mix onto the prosciutto - not too thick, but enough that it covers the cured meat. Lightly paint the steak with dijon mustard to add another layer of flavor and place in the middle of the spinach. Use the plastic wrap to bring the prosciutto up and around the steak. You want it as covered as possible, the prosciutto will act as a moisture barrier so that the pastry cooks and crisps. Wrap with the plastic wrap and refrigerate.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425F and unfold the puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out slightly. Place the prosciutto wrapped steak (remove the plastic) in the middle of the pastry. Fold the pastry up around the steak. I had a hard time getting the pastry to join together (and, let's be honest, I wasn't going to cut the pastry smaller!), so I sealed the seams with the egg wash (like glue). Then, place on a baking sheet and brush the top and sides with the egg wash as well. If desired, sprinkle some coarse salt on top. Bake for 25-35 minutes.
The flavor here was phenomenal, but I had a little trouble with the initial temperature of the steak. I was afraid of overcooking the steak if I seared it too well (and one of my steaks was smaller and thinner than the other), so I did only 2 minutes top and bottom and a glancing sear on the sides. When I cut into the beautiful pastry after 25 minutes, the steak was just north of raw. I put the two halves, tipped up (so the filling wouldn’t drip out) back in the oven for 7 minutes. The result was delicious, but not as juicy as the sealed steak would have been if I'd have left it in longer. There was leftover spinach filling, but that shouldn't be a problem - it's delicious on it's own...or swirled into leftover mashed potatoes...
Rating: Excellent, if I do say so myself!
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