Individual Beef Wellingtons

UGHHHHHH THIS. DISH. IS. EVERYTHING. I can’t even begin to explain the knock-your-socks-off kind of meal this is, but I’ll do my best in hopes to sway you to make this. Beef Wellington sounds like a dish they’d serve royalty, or something straight outta Bridgerton. If we venture through the History of Food, it’s been confirmed that the first Duke of Wellington won the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, and this little number was made for him as a celebratory dish. Lucky guy. With it’s flaky, buttery texture, tender meat, and amazing flavor, this is a meal to beat.

My Mom is the original OG with this recipe, and in particular, making them individually. This was always a special occasion, once-a-year kind of request, and a few years ago I felt like I could try the mastery myself. I’ve made this now countless times and I’m actually disappointed in myself for never posting this before. The kicker? IT’S EASY. I almost don’t want to share how easy it is because it sounds so dreamy and like, only experts can master it, but it’s one of my specialties, so…here we are. Pro tip: always, always, always pick out a killer bottle of a wine with this. I’d recommend a hit-you-in-the-face Cabernet Sauvignon, or even a good blend like the Prisoner. This a night you’ll want to bring the big guns out to play.

P R E P

There is little to no prep with this meal, and it’s even one that you can prepare ahead of time. Make sure that you set your meat out at least 30 minutes prior, as well as the puff pastry at least 24 hours prior in the fridge, or 5 hours prior to come to room temp.

What you’ll need

• A large sauté pan. Cast iron works great.
• 1 cookie sheet and 1 piece of parchment paper.
• 1 shallot, finely chopped.
• 7-8 oz cremini mushrooms, finely chopped.
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (plus more for steaks).
• 1 tablespoon of butter.
• 1 lb of Filet Mignon. This should be two, half pound pieces.
• 1 Sheet Puff Pastry, thawed.
• Egg wash: 1 raw egg, whisked. You can add a tablespoon of water if it’s too thick.
• Optional: Prosciutto.

Serving Size: 2

Total Prep Time: 5 min

Total Cooking Time: 30 min

Directions

• First things first, make sure that the puff pastry is fully thawed. You should ideally put this in your fridge the night before, and set out about a half hour before you get cooking. The less thaw it is, the more difficult it is to work with.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Remove meat from refrigerator and let sit on your counter.
• Finely chop mushrooms and shallots (you’ll cook them at the same time). To save yourself some leg work, you can use a food processor, but doing this by hand is perfectly fine.
• Heat olive oil and butter on a medium-sized skillet. Once the oil and the butter have this cute little pairing bliss happen (aka, the pan is hot enough), add shallot and mushroom. Continue to cook until the mushrooms are soft and most of the moisture has evaporated (about 10 minutes).
  • Additional add-on: I add a bit of cooking sherry to the mushrooms for more flavor; this is usually an additional piece you’ll see in OG Wellington recipes.
• Meanwhile, pat your steaks dry and sprinkle with salt & pepper on both sides. Take a little bit of olive oil on your hands, and run the steaks in oil (no need to go nuts with this step, just enough oil to cover the steaks with).
• If you choose to do this with one pan, remove the mushroom/shallot mixture to a bowl. Increase heat to medium-high. Alternatively, if you’re using a separate pan, bring to medium-high heat.
• Once the pan is hot, add steaks. DON’T TOUCH THEM. It’s tempting to take a peek, I know, but let them sizzle for 2 minutes per side. Remove from heat onto a cutting board or plate and allow to cool.
• Place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Prepare egg wash (see above for instructions).
• Take the thawed puff pastry sheet and, using a rolling pin (or even a bottle of wine), roll out the dough. It doesn’t have to be perfectly rolled out into a nice shape since you’ll be folding the meat in, but you’ll want it thin enough to have enough dough to wrap. If the dough is too sticky, you can use a little bit of flour. Using a knife, cut the puff pastry in half.
  • Here’s where your optional prosciutto comes in! If you’re an OG Wellington fan, you’ve probably had it as a whole tenderloin with the meat wrapped inside the dough INSIDE Prosciutto. I tried both ways and my preference is without the prosciutto, BUT if you do choose to add it in, here’s how you’ll do it: Layer the prosciutto on the puff pastry, add the steak, then the mushroom/shallot mix, and cover again with prosciutto before wrapping. The Prosciutto doesn’t have to be perfect, and you don’t have to go through the effort of using saran wrap like you would with a whole Wellington dish. Wrap the dough around the beef/prosciutto mixture like a present, and place on cookie sheet seam-side down.
• Place a spoonful of the mushroom/shallot mixture in the center of the dough. Place the steak on top of the mushroom mix, and top with another spoonful of mushroom/shallot mixture. You can go as mushroom-heavy here as you’d like; I find that I don’t need a whole heaping-full of the mushroom mix, so whatever you’d prefer will do just fine.
• Wrap the dough around the steak, similar to wrapping a present. Place the dough seam-side down on the cookie sheet. Repeat with second meat/dough. You can get creative with the extra “scrap” pieces of dough if you’d like. Just don’t be disappointed if it comes out distorted!
• Using a brush, or just a spoon, brush egg wash mixture over both pieces of dough.
• Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes. It should be golden brown on all sides (you may need to turn your cookie sheet halfway depending on your oven).
• Serve warm with gravy, potatoes, broccolini–anything that’ll be the perfect match for your Wellington!

Filet Mignon is gorgeous

Perfectly seared

Here you’ll see one version with the optional prosciutto, and one without

You can get creative with the puff pastry scraps

POST COOKING NOTES

• I’ve made this so many times now that I honestly forgot what the “exact” measurements are. That should tell you how simple this really is, and that it doesn’t need to be a “by the book” kind of dinner. Sometimes I’ve even had the oven temperature differ, just to see what works the best. You truly can’t go wrong, as long as you doctor (and cook) it the way you like.
• My favorite sides with this are creamed spinach and sweet potato stacks (I may possibly do a separate blog post on these because YUM). Oh and, of course, a heavy duty Cabernet Sauvignon to top it ALL off.
• If you prep this ahead of time, do everything up until the egg wash, and cover with saran wrap. Put it in the fridge for up to 8 hours prior, just be sure to remove 30 minutes before cooking (or even while your oven is pre-heating).

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