For my brother Dan - My Gluten Free Beef Wellington Experience

Today mark's the second anniversary of my brother's sudden passing.  The only way I can think of continuing honouring him is to try and love cooking half as much as he did.  Last year in honour of his Haggis and Herring blog I made Haggis and Herring.  This year, I decided to take on a Beef Wellington.

Dan, I miss you with all my heart!

The idea of a Beef Wellington all started with the release of Pillsbury's gluten free pastry dough.  The first thing that came to my head wasn't pie (because I'm not a baker), but Beef Wellington!  Why Beef Wellington?  Because Chef Gordon Ramsay has it as a staple on the Hell's Kitchen menu.  What a great challenge.  Try and make a Beef Wellington good enough that Gordon Ramsay won't be screaming at you telling you its RAW and throwing it down like it's garbage.

So task #1.  Find a recipe.  I opened up my Food Network App, search wellington, and spotted a recipe that looked good to me by Tyler Florence (recipe shared below).

Task #2, search out the ingredients.  The only unique ingredients was the tenderloin cut (filet mignon) and procuitto (yes the tenderloin was wrapped in yummyness).

Knowing that I needed to do this right and go to a butcher, I went to Ben's Meat for the tenderloin.  I knew the meat was going to be expensive for 3lbs, and $60 later I was about to work with the most expensive cut of meat I have ever worked with.  And to be honest, that was a good price for that meat.

task #4 tackle this bad boy of a recipe.  I spent the better part of a morning prepping the meat and the insides of the wellington.  I knew it wasn't going to be easy, so I even called in reinforcements when it came to working with the gluten free pastry.

So what was the end results?  A slight mess!  It actually tasted amazing, and the meat was perfect.  But there are two things I didn't do well that could have made this dish perfect.

As you can see the crust kind of fell apart

First thing, I didn't roll the tenderloin tight enough.  I found it a challenge to wrap the tenderloin with the prosciutto and mushroom stuffing really right with the seran wrap.  I knew it wasn't perfectly tight, but I thought it was pretty good.  If you try this recipe, make sure you wrap it really tight.  There should be no give so when you put the tenderloin in the fridge, it will do a better job at holding its shape before wrapping it with the pastry.

Second thing I messed up on, was cutting the vents in the pastry.  I could not have wrapped this damn thing, without the help of my pastry loving mother'n'law.  I just had no idea what I was doing.  We then cut the vents, but I think we needed to cut the vents deeper, or cut more of them.  This particular recipe had a mushroom stuffing and mushroom contains lots of water.  So, although the top stayed crispy (and damn that Pillsbury makes a good gluten free pastry crust), the bottom got really soggy because the moisture couldn't escape to well.

So here is the recipe:

The Ultimate Beef Wellington - From Tyler Florence

For the Duxelles:

• 3 pints (1 1/2 pounds) white  button mushrooms
• 2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
• 2 tablespoons  unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the Duxelles: Add mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  Add butter and olive oil to a large saute pan and set over medium heat. Add the shallot and mushroom mixture and saute for 8 to 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

For the Beef:

• 1 (3-pound) center cut  beef tenderloin ( filet mignon), trimmed
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 12 thin slices prosciutto
• 6 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
• 2 tablespoons  Dijon mustard
• Flour, for rolling out puff pastry
• 1 pound  puff pastry, thawed if using frozen
• 2 large  eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse  sea salt
• Minced  chives, for garnish
• Green Peppercorn Sauce, recipe follows
• Roasted  Fingerling Potatoes
• Warm Wilted Winter Greens, recipe follows

To prepare the beef: Tie the tenderloin in 4 places so it holds its cylindrical shape while cooking. Drizzle with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper and sear all over, including the ends, in a hot, heavy-based skillet lightly coated with olive oil - about 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile set out your prosciutto on a sheet of plastic wrap (plastic needs to be about a foot and a half in length so you can wrap and tie the roast up in it) on top of your cutting board. Shingle the prosciutto so it forms a rectangle that is big enough to encompass the entire filet of beef. Using a rubber spatula cover evenly with a thin layer of duxelles. Season the surface of the duxelles with salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves. When the beef is seared, remove from heat, cut off twine and smear lightly all over with Dijon mustard. Allow to cool slightly, then roll up in the duxelles covered prosciutto using the plastic wrap to tie it up nice and tight. Tuck in the ends of the prosciutto as you roll to completely encompass the beef. Roll it up tightly in plastic wrap and twist the ends to seal it completely and hold it in a nice log shape. Set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to ensure it maintains its shape.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry out to about a 1/4-inch thickness. Depending on the size of your sheets you may have to overlap 2 sheets and press them together. Remove beef from refrigerator and cut off plastic.  Set the beef in the center of the pastry and fold over the longer sides, brushing with egg wash to seal. Trim ends if necessary then brush with egg wash and fold over to completely seal the beef - saving ends to use as a decoration on top if desired. Top with coarse sea salt. Place the beef seam side down on a baking sheet.



Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash then make a couple of slits in the top of the pastry using the tip of a paring knife - this creates vents that will allow the steam to escape when cooking. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until pastry is golden brown and beef registers 125 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from oven and rest before cutting into thick slices. Garnish with minced chives, and serve with Green Peppercorn Sauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, and Warm Wilted Winter Greens.



Green Peppercorn Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 3 sprigs fresh  thyme, leaves only
• 1 cup brandy
• 1 box  beef stock
• 2 cups  cream
• 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
• 1/2 cup green  peppercorns in  brine, drained, brine reserved

Add olive oil to pan after removing beef. Add shallots, garlic, and thyme; saute for 1 to 2 minutes, then, off heat, add brandy and flambe using a long kitchen match. After flame dies down, return to the heat, add stock and reduce by about half. Strain out solids, then add 2 cups cream and mustard. Reduce by half again, then shut off heat and add green peppercorns.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F and place a baking sheet inside to heat.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Fresh  Herbs and Garlic:

• 2 pints fingerling potatoes
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 to 3 sprigs fresh sage
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 6 cloves garlic, left unpeeled
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus for  sheet pan
• Salt and pepper

Add potatoes, rosemary, sage, thyme, and garlic to a medium bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Remove sheet pan from oven, lightly coat with olive oil, and pour potatoes onto pan. Place potatoes in oven and reduce heat to 425 degrees F. Roast for 20 minutes, or until crispy on outside and tender on inside.