I have had a curiosity about making Beef Wellington since I started watching the fantastic show Hell’s Kitchen, cause they seem to serve it every night for dinner, and it NEVER, EVER comes out right.  It perplexed me, because it seems to constantly elude the cadre of inept chefs for the entire season.  I figure, if I made something night after night, I would eventually get the hang of it.  What is so darn tough about making a Wellington?  I went searching for a Gordon Ramsay approved recipe so that I wasn’t somehow cheating and making something pared down.

Well, turns out, it actually is kinda hard to make Beef Wellington.  For starters, it takes a while to make it.  And, also when you bake it all the juices come out of the tenderloin, which made my pastry soggy.  To boot, mine was definitely overdone…but, nonetheless, it was delicious.  Gordon Ramsay would have kicked me out, that’s for sure.  And the picture came out kinda crappy.  But, well, I had to photograph it at 8pm which was when we were eating it for dinner!  Oh well. 

Beef Wellington

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay, The F Word

Ingredients:

• 2lb Beef tenderloin
• 1lb mushrooms
• 4 slice proscuitto
• Grainy mustard
• One sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 2 Egg yolks

Brown the tenderloin in some oil in a heavy skillet.  Remove the tenderloin to a cutting board and cool.  Rub the tenderloin with the grainy mustard.  Coarsely chop your mushrooms, and place into a food processor.  Process until a smooth puree is formed.  Place the puree into a skillet and cook on medium until the moisture evaporates and the mixture thickens.  Lay out some saran wrap, enough to cover the tenderloin completely.  Lay the proscuitto slices in the center of the saran wrap, slightly overlaying eachother.  Spread the mushroom paste over the proscuitto slices.  Lay the tenderloin on top of the mushroom and proscuitto and wrap tightly in the saran wrap.  Let sit in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to set up the wellington.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In the interim, roll the thawed pastry sheet into a thin layer large enough to cover the tenderloin.  Beat the egg yolks with about 1 tablespoon of water to form an egg wash, and coat the pastry edges with the egg wash.  Unwrap the tenderloin from the saran wrap.  Place the rolled meat onto the center of the puff pastry, and fold the pastry over the tenderloin, pressing the edges.  Coat with the egg wash.  Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes for a medium-well done Wellington.  Enjoy!

Finally, a return to my 30 things to make while I’m 30.  Starting to run out of time, here – I’ll be 31 in only 4 months from tomorrow!  I have a lot of the recipes ready for blogging, but things have been a little crazy ’round here lately, and I’ll admit I’ve been slacking off a bit.  Thankfully, I have an afternoon off, and a long weekend to follow – so here I go.  Sauerbraten is a fantastic, slow-cooked German roast beef.  I will warn you if you plan to make this it’s important to plan far ahead, as it takes a week to marinate.  Yep, that’s right, a week.  When we finally got around to cooking it though – the dish was worth every marinating minute.  It’s sweet and tangy and complex all at the same time.  This recipe I got from my lovely mother-in-law who is a fantastic cook – it’s tough following in her shoes, but my husband seems to think I’m doing alright so far at least!  I love snagging her recipes and trying them out for him whenever I can.  I made a few minor changes, mostly related to what I happened to have on hand vs. what the recipe called for – but it came out great.  This sauerbraten would be lovely on a cool fall night with a delicious German beer – although it was similarly awesome when I made it this spring too.  I served it with Kartoffelknoedel – I just love saying that word – or traditional German potato dumplings, but it would also taste great with spaetzle or egg noodles or frankly I’d imagine on any other plain base.

Sauerbraten

From my mother-in-law’s personal recipe collection

Ingredients

For the marinade -

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup cider vinegar (increase if needed in same proportion to the water)
• 2 cups of water (increase if needed in same proportion to the vinegar)
• 2 and 1/2 tsp salt
• 12 whole peppercorns
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 4-5 lb boneless roast, tied

On cooking day -

One down, 29 to go!

It’s been quite a while since I last shared a recipe with my readers.  I’ve been busy, but my food choices haven’t been very inspiring.  August passed by in a flurry of activity – painting rooms, staining our deck, sewing up a storm and attending gatherings with family and friends.  In the midst of all this activity, dinner has been simple:  burgers or chicken with fresh produce from our favorite local farm, sandwiches or pizza.

I haven’t stepped beyond the ordinary much lately, but I did manage to make this barbacoa not once, but twice!   This recipe, adapted slightly from Tasty Kitchen, was a fabulous find!  With very little attended prep-time, you can make mouth-watering barbacoa for tacos, enchiladas, burritos or any other favorite Mexican dish.  The flavors meld beautifully, but it’s the chilis in adobo sauce the really make the marinade.  They impart a wonderfully smoky heat that builds gradually, but consider yourself warned that they can pack quite a punch!

Barbacoa

3 pounds Top or Bottom Round Roast
2 onions, roughly chopped
3 tbsp vegetable oil
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp cumin
1 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 – 1 small can of chipotles in adobo sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
2 tbsp white or rice vinegar

1. Place all ingredients except the roast in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Spoon some sauce into the slow-cooker so it covers the bottom.  Add the roast and pour the rest of the sauce over meat.
3. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
4. Remove beef from slow-cooker and drain sauce from slow-cooker (set aside – don’t throw it away).
5. Shred the beef using forks or tongs and return to the slow-cooker. Gradually add sauce to shredded beef, stirring as you go. You want to coat the meat with the seasoning, but not leave standing liquid in the slow-cooker.
6. Let beef sit on low or warm for 5-10 minutes to allow the sauce to season the beef.

Monday night marked our first grilled meal of the year! My husband was quite excited to pull the cover off and fire up the grill. With the unseasonable warm weather we’ve been having, it felt just like summer!

A local grocery store chain sells gourmet burger patties during the summer months. These consist of a relatively lean ground beef combine with various mix-ins. Standard burgers include ones with Italian spices, pepper, mushrooms and cheese? the list goes on. My husband and I planned to serve these for a birthday celebration last summer, but my jaw dropped when I saw the price. I figured that they couldn’t be too hard to make.

Since I hadn’t had much luck forming burgers by hand (mine crumbled too easily), I scoured local stores in search of a burger press. After striking out there, I sprung for a pricey one from Amazon, and still came out ahead. That thing paid for itself in one weekend! If you?re looking for a burger press, I am really happy with this one. I haven?t had any of the problems that other viewers refer to. I like that the press is non-stick (lined with silicone) and can be easily disassembled and thrown in the dishwasher for easy cleaning.

Mixing vegetables, spices and cheese into burgers add a fun kick to this summer staple. I use ground turkey and ground beef interchangeably, although this time I used 93% lean ground turkey. I typically just eyeball the mix-in ingredients, but I measured this time so that I could provide details here. In the past I have used garlic powder, but I found that the freshly minced garlic made quite a difference. I served these burgers topped with sharp cheddar cheese and sauteed mushrooms.

Making these burgers also gave me the opportunity to use my newest kitchen gadget: a digital food scale. While it?s not a necessity (I made burgers for a year without one), it does make it easier to divide the meat into uniform portions.

Since burger making is rather messy, I frequently make a large batch using two packages or meat and then freeze the extras. When freezing the burgers, I separate them with slices of wax paper, wrap in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag

Gourmet Burgers

1 package (1.25-1.33 lbs) ground turkey – I used 93% lean
1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Mix well to combine.
3. Divide into 5-6 equal portions and shape into burger patties.
4. Grill or freeze.