Where's the Beef...Wellington?

I love food. I really do, which is why several of the items on the list were food related. I also like to watch cooking shows, and my favourite TV chef is Gordon Ramsey. I swear I will watch that man do anything. I even like it when he yells and swears at people. The man knows what he's talking about. WHY DO THEY NEVER LISTEN TO HIM??




 


Sorry. Back to reality. Now, one of the dishes that Gordon Ramsey and his flunkies cook ALL the time is Beef Wellington. I had heard about it before Gordon Ramsey started screaming at people that they'd overcooked it, but I didn't really look into what it was until I saw it on "Hell's Kitchen" every week. It always looks so good, and I've been wanting to try it, so when I was making this list I decided I'd try to make it. I'd heard it was labour intensive but delicious, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

It was a whirl alright.

Beef Wellington ended up being one of those things that after a big build up, and very high expectations, lets you down in the end. Kind of like the season finale of "The Walking Dead". You hear so many good things, and you get all psyched up, and you make all these plans and set the mood, and then you watch the show and you're like..."Really? I waited all season for THIS?". Yeah. A whole lot of that went on in one day, since my best friend and I watched the season finale while eating the Beef Wellington. 

 

I bought all the supplies for the Wellington, but I knew it needed something to go with it. And what does Gordon Ramsey ALWAYS have on the menu with his Wellington? Risotto of course. I like risotto and had also heard that it was labour intensive, but I ended up liking the risotto a whole lot more than the Wellington.



  

Special appearances by the Killer Albino Bunny From Hell and Herbert. It was an Easter feast, after all.

I'll chronicle the risotto first. Not detailed, so if you want the recipe let me know and I can send it to you.

We made asparagus risotto because we love asparagus and I had some that needed to be used. You need arborio rice, white wine, chicken stock, olive oil, butter, an onion, asparagus, Parmesan cheese and some salt and pepper. Cook the onion in the oil and butter for 3-5 mins. Add the rice and stir it around for a couple of minutes. Add wine and let it evaporate. 


 
Once it has evaporated, add chicken stock half a cup at a time. When it evaporates, add another half cup. After 15 mins add the asparagus (cut in 1 inch pieces). Keep adding the stock and letting it evaporate until it's the consistency you want.




Stir in some asparagus puree, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper and you're all done!









It takes about half an hour of constant watching, plus prep work, but it's not all that complicated and is very yummy in the end. And now the Wellington. Same deal applies with the recipe.

Start with your beef. The recipe calls for a beef tenderloin, but I couldn't find one, so I got these two little sirloins. Size wise it was a good choice. Sear it on all sides.

Smear it with mustard.

Chop some mushrooms. I used mini bellas. Then you blitz them, which means to chop them up REALLY fine with a food processor. Then you put them in a dry pan and cook all the moisture out. I think this was my favourite part. It looked really neat. Then you let them cool.

Lay out some plastic wrap, then lay out some prosciutto. I used 4 slices for each Wellington and they were  BITCH to get apart. Boo prosciutto. Then you sprinkle the mushrooms on top. Notice my face and you will understand how I truly felt about this process. You then lay the meat on and ATTEMPT to roll it nicely.


Behold, a video of me rolling meat bonbons.

Now didn't that look like fun? Delicious meat bonbons. Throw it in the fridge for 20 mins to firm up.



It didn't really firm up a whole lot. Roll out some puff pastry, plop down the Wellington and roll it up. 








Cut off any excess dough and tuck in the edges.

Brush on some egg yolk to make it nice and shiny, then pop it in the oven for 20-25 minutes. After 25 mins it was still pretty pasty on the top (rather like myself), so I turned the broiler on for a minute or 2 to brown it up a bit.









And here's the finished product!! Looks delicious, doesn't it?

Take THAT, Wellington!

It was very juicy and hard to cut in two. My friend and I shared one and I took the other one home to my parents. Neither my friend nor I were able to eat this entire plate, although it COULD be due to the chips we ate while waiting for supper to cook. We didn't end up eating until close to 9. Oops!





So, list item number 5, Cook a Beef Wellington is done. Would I do it again? Probably not. It was good, but nothing spectacular. I think I'd rather just have a steak. And the Wellington was DEFINITELY not worth the cost and effort I put into it. Glad I did it though. Yet another learning experience :-)