Cook with Us #15 - Beef Wellington with Creamy Horseradish

Hello, my fellow Steemians! I am so happy that the Cookwithus challenge is back for season 2. This week the theme is traditional holiday foods from your country. I am an American and as far as traditional meals Thanksgiving is our big one but I am not a big fan of roasted turkey. As far back as I remember my mother has made beef wellington for our Christmas dinner. While this dish is more associated with the English I have a little English in my background so I think that'll work. It's a common misconception that the dish was created for the first Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley. In all actuality by the time the duke was famous beef baked in a pastry was a well-established dish in English cuisine. It was more likely a patriotic rebranding of a popular dish of the time. The first recorded mention of the dish was in the Los Angeles Times in 1903 describing it as "fillet of beef, a la Wellington".For this Beef Wellington, chateaubriand is wrapped in prosciutto, duxelles, and puff pastry for an exquisite and mouthwatering entree.

Ingredients:
For the Duxelles:
1 lb of mushrooms
1/2 large yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
Salt and Pepper

For the Beef:
2 lb Chateaubriand Beef Tenderloin
Salt and Pepper
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
2 Tablespoons of Stone Ground Mustard
12oz thawed Puff Pastry
Flour for rolling out pastry
2 Egg yolks, beaten with 1 Tablespoon of water and a pinch of salt (Egg Wash)

For the Sauce:
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/4 cup horseradish
Salt and pepper

The night before you prepare the dish wrap the chateaubriand in 3 layers of cling wrap to set its shape, Then chill in the refrigerator. Heat pan on high heat with the olive oil. Remove the filet from the cling wrap and do a quick sear on all sides of chateaubriand including the ends for 30 to 60 seconds. The goal here is to brown all over while it's rare on the inside. Remove from pan and brush mustard all over and let cool.

Add the ingredients for the duxelles into a food processor and pulse until its finely chopped. Add to hot pan and spread it into a thin layer. Let the mushrooms cook until all the excess moisture is released and you are left with a paste-like mushroom mix. Remove from the pan and allow to cool.

Take your pastry and lay it on a floured surface. Roll out till it's about 1/4th inch thick and can fully cover the chateaubriand. Place in refrigerator to chill.

Take a large piece of cling wrap and lay it on a surface and place the prosciutto on top. Make sure that the prosciutto is overlapped and make a square. Spread your mushroom mix over the prosciutto evenly. Season the beef filet and place it on top of the mushroom mix. Using the cling wrap roll the prosciutto over the beef and tie the cling wrap to get an even log. Chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Remove beef from cling wrap. Wrap pastry around prosciutto covered beef. Trim pastry if needed and brush with egg wash. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unwrap cling wrap and lightly score the pastry and brush again with egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and cooked. Let rest for 10 minutes before carving. whisk together ingredients for sauce and serve with a dollop on the side of beef wellington.

Alright, that's all I've got for today. Thanks to The Cook with Us team @chefsteve, @pandamama, and @offoodandart, for putting this together. Let me know how you enjoyed the meal! Bon Appetit! - @slowcookingchef

kitchen music this week: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell!