4/11/13

Beef Wellington Napoleon - Imgur

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Beef Wellington Napoleons

The problem with the traditional Beef Wellington is that the puff pastry inevitably gets soaked and mushy. This method is easier, cleaner, and a little more modern. Bonus points for the coincidental war related name.

Step one: make Duxelles.

Food process a few shallots, a half pound of mushrooms, and a clove of garlic. Saute in butter on medium high until all the moisture has evaporated and the paste browns a good bit (10-15 minutes?). Deglaze with some white wine, lemon juice, and a few drops of worcestershire. It may not look pretty, but it is damn good. You can do this the day ahead.

Step two: Make the Puff Pastry

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Beef Wellington Napoleon - Imgur

I mean, don't MAKE puff pastry. Buy it. Making it is a pain and the store-bought stuff is great, especially if you can find an all-butter puff pastry. Just roll it out, cut it into rectangles, and brush it with a mixture of beaten egg and a tablespoon of water. Bake for about a half hour.

Chop some thyme

A little ghee to saute the steaks in.

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Beef Wellington Napoleon - Imgur

Vegetable oil is fine. Don't use olive oil. Glass of bourbon semi-optional.

T he makings for a pan sauce

A cup of brown chicken stock (low sodium chicken stock will do, but when you boil it down, the saltiness will be amplified. Make your own salt-free chicken stock, which tastes way better anyway), 1/2 cup cognac, lemon juice, shallots, garlic, herbs/peppercorns, dijon mustard, tomato paste.

T ake a step back

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Beef Wellington Napoleon - Imgur

Make sure you have everything in place, because it's gonna get busy.

Sear the steaks

Salt the tenderloin steaks (which you have already brought up to room temperature) liberally right before adding them to a piping hot skillet. Brown all the sides as hot as you can (without the oil smoking) until it looks like.....

T his.

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Beef Wellington Napoleon - Imgur

Transfer the steaks to a sheet pan and into a 350F oven. I probably should have skewered the tenderloins, which tend to fall apart.

Fond.

The pan should look like this, with tasty brown bits on the bottom which will contribute to the flavor of the pan sauce.

Add the aromatics

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Add the chopped shallots and garlic to the pan for a minute

Watch your eyebrows

Add the cognac off heat and ignite if you want a show. It's really not necessary. The alcohol will burn off either way.

Add the rest and reduce

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Beef Wellington Napoleon - Imgur

Deglaze with the chicken stock. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom with a wooden spoon, and whisk in 1 tsp of mustard, 1tsp of tomato paste, 1 tsp lemon juice, and herbs, and reduce until you can drag a spatula across the bottom and the liquid takes a bit to fill in.

Asparagus

Meanwhile, toss your asparagus with olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, and ground chiles or chili powder. I like my asparagus very al dente, which is 6 minutes in a 350F toaster oven (or just put them in with the steaks)

Asparagus complete

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Strain the sauce

When the sauce is reduced, strain it, pressing the aromatics with a spoon to extract more juice. There will be just a couple tablespoons of liquid.

Butter.

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Beef Wellington Napoleon - Imgur

Album: 23 images

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Beef Wellington Napoleon

By jattea 6 hours ago 3,999 views Return the sauce to the hot skillet, off heat. Add a few tablespoons of frozen chopped butter. This will magically improve thickness, texture, and sheen.
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Glory hallelujah

Pull the steaks

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Beef Wellington Napoleon - Imgur

I overshot medium rare by 1.2. LET IT REST DAMMIT.

Plate the Asparagus

T op with one piece of puff pastry, and spoon on some duxelles

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Add the rested steak, thyme, pink peppercorn, and sauce

Then add another spoonful of Duxelles, then the top piece, with a bit more herbs and peppercorns on top.

T he finished product.

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Beef Wellington Napoleon - Imgur

If you don't rest your steak for 10 minutes, the plate will be a bloodbath. Ok fine, hemoglobinbath.

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