A traditional staple for many Christmas dinners, the Beef Wellington is an interesting dish made popular decades ago by Julia Child. It's not really a hard dish except for one thing ... the dreaded soggy bottom! The trick to avoiding that is to make sure you reduce the veggie pate to a veggie pate. Make sure it's an actual paste, not watery. That will help exponentially. I also use a trick that will cause many "chefs" to scream in agony. I don't use fresh parsley. I use freeze-dried. The dehydrated parsley helps to soak up that excess water and keep the bottom firm.
Granny Mae Wisdom--Everything is better with butter and salt.
I have my own recipe. The traditional one uses Sherry in place of my red wine. And it has mushrooms instead of pecans and bell peppers. We have a mushroom allergy which is why I've changed the recipe.
Beef Wellington
1Â cup bell peppers (or a basket of fresh sliced mushrooms for traditional recipe and omit peppers)
½ cup Red Cooking Wine (Sherry for the traditional recipe)Â
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped pecans (omit in the traditional recipe)
¼ cup butter
¼ cup chopped parsley (I use dry, but traditional is fresh)
1 package frozen puff pastry, partially thawed
Roughly 8 oz of a tender cut of beef (I use filet or Chateaubriand)
Salt & pepper (optional)
Brazilian Steakhouse seasoning (optional)
Steps:
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat.
3. Add wine (red or sherry) with mushrooms, onion, pecans, bell peppers and parsley (mushrooms if you're using the traditional method.
4. Cook until all liquid is absorbed and the mixture forms a paste. This is critical to keep the bottom of the crust from being soggy.
5. While the paste cools, I always season the beef. I prefer Brazilian Steakhouse seasoning, but you can use any rub you like. Even something as simple as salt & pepper. This will also help with sogginess. Rub the mixture into the beef and set aside.
6. Roll out the puff pastry.
7. Spoon part of the paste over the pastry.
8. Place beef over the paste, the spread more paste over the beef until it's coated.
9. Carefully wrap the pastry around the beef, sealing all edges and seams. Make sure the bottom seam is on the bottom.
10. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.
11. Place pastry wrapped beef on the parchment paper and place in oven.
12. Bake until the cent of the meat reached 145 degrees (more traditional recipes are 130 degrees, but we like ours medium). TIP: I turn the pastry over so that I insert the thermometer on the side that won't show when I serve it.
13. Optional: I brush melted butter of the top after I pull it out of the oven.
14. Rest for 5 minutes, slice and serve.
15. Enjoy!