Something Special for your next dinner party- Beef Wellington

Sooo, my favourite Wellington is of the beet variety.  Carnivores should try the Beet Wellington as well as the Beef Wellington that follows.  Thanks to Gordon Ramsey for providing the basic directions.  It really is quite easy to prepare and packs a huge "WOW" factor with dinner guests.

Andrea and I made this for a dinner party.  We began prepping around 2 pm and everything was ready to serve by 6 pm.  To accompany the Beef Wellington, we prepared buttermilk mashed potatoes, maple glazed carrots and steamed broccoli.  Rounding everything out was an arugula salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

This recipe serves four to six.

Ingredients:

1 kg beef tenderloin, centercut
3 tbsp olive oil
250 gr mushrooms (assorted- white, wild, shitake)
50 gr butter
1 large sprig fresh thyme
100 ml dry white wine
12 slices prosciutto
500g package puff pastry, thawed if frozen
flour, for dusting
2 egg yolks beaten with 1 tsp water

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the beef tenderloin on a roasting pan, brush with 1 tbsp of olive oil, season with pepper and roast for approx. 15 minutes for medium-rare (a little longer for medium). When the beef is done, remove from the oven, cool, then refrigerate for approximately 20 minutes.

While the beef is cooling, place the mushrooms in the food processor using the chopping blade. Pulse the mushrooms until they are finely chopped (do not turn them into a paste!). They should have the consistency of large breadcrumbs.

Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil and the butter a large pan and fry the mushrooms on a medium heat, with the thyme, for about 10 mins stirring often, until you have a softened mixture. Season the mushroom mixture with salt and pepper to taste, add the white wine to the mushrooms and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until all the wine has been absorbed. The mixture should hold its shape when stirred. Remove the mushroom duxelle from the pan to cool and discard the thyme.

Overlap two pieces of plastic wrap over a large chopping board. Lay 12 slices prosciutto on theplastic, slightly overlapping, in a double row. Spread half the duxelles over the prosciutto, then place the fillet on it and spread the remaining duxelles over. Use the edge of the plastic wrap (à la sushi roll style) to draw the prosciutto around the fillet, roll it into a sausage shape, twisting the ends of the wrap to tighten it as you go. Chill the fillet while you roll out the pastry.

Dust your work surface with a little flour. Roll out a third of the pack of puff pastry to a 18 x 30cm strip and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Roll out the remainder of the 500g pack of puff pastry to about 28 x 36 cm. Unravel the beef from the plastic wrap and place it in the centre of the smaller strip of pastry. Beat the 2 egg yolks with 1 tsp water and brush the pastry’s edges, and the top and sides of the wrapped fillet. Using a rolling pin, carefully lift and drape the larger piece of pastry over the fillet, pressing well into the sides to eliminate any air pockets. Trim the joints to about a 4cm rim. Seal the rim with the edge of a fork or spoon handle. Glaze all over with more egg yolk and, using the back of a knife, mark the beef Wellington with long diagonal lines taking care not to cut into the pastry. Chill for at least 30 mins and up to 24 hrs.

Pickled Beets- a Fall Tradition

By the end of September, I will have canned my pickled beets.  So much better than store bought!  In exchange for a day of labour, beet red hands and a little sweat, I will enjoy a winter of delicious beets.  This is my recipe, but every canner has his or her own version- a little less spice, a little more sugar, white vinegar, cider vinegar... you get the picture.  These are best made with a friend to share the job, and the bounty.

To make 4 500-ml jars.  Feel free to double or triple.

Ingredients
1     lb beets (red, orange, white...)

2     cups, liquid from cooked beets
1     cup cider vinegar
1     white onion, sliced
1/4  cup white sugar, or to taste
1     tbsp star anise
1     tbsp whole cloves
pinch of salt

Directions
Prepare your jars and lids- keep the jars hot.

Put the beets in a large saucepan and add water to cover.  If using different coloured beets, cook them separately.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the beets are tender, about 25 minutes.  Drain the beets, reserving two cups of the liquid.

When cool enough to handle, peel and slice 1/4-inch thick.  Divide the beet and onion among the jars.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the reserved cooking liquid, vinegar, sugar, star anise, cloves and salt.  Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

Ladle the hot vinegar into the jars, evenly distributing the spices and leaving 1/2-inch headspace.  Remove any air bubbles.  Wipe the rims clean and seal tightly with the lids.

Process the jars for ten minutes in a boiling water bath.  Remove from the water and let stand until cooled.  Set aside for one week to let the flavours develop.  The sealed jars can be stored for up to six months in a cool, dark place.  If a seal fails, store in the refrigerator.

That's Italian! Passata

What to do with the bounty of local tomatoes available by mid-August?  If you're Italian, you get the family together and can your tomatoes for the coming year.  My sister and I aren't Italian, but, with a little help from our Italian friends, we got the low down on the Italian "way".  Three hundred pounds of tomatoes will provide us with enough incredibly fresh, tasty, healthy passata- a light tomato sauce- for the next six months. The thing is, this sauce has a minimal amount of salt and a maximum amount of tomato flavour.

64 500-ml jars of tomato goodness- passata

300 lbs of roma tomatoes
 (each box holds 25 lbs)

Elyse (my sister) underestimated the yield per 25 lbs box, so we ended up canning twice the amount of jars we had planned for.  She will enjoy 64 litres of tomatoes (from 200 lbs of roma tomatoes) and I will have half that amount. 

Here is what you can expect: 25 lbs of roma tomatoes will provide you with 8 litres of passata.  That's 8 x 1 litre jars or 16 x 500 ml jars... And, timewise, expect to spend about one hour for every 25 lbs of tomatoes.  All well worth it! 

We tried out two new tools this weekend: a large tomato hand press and the food puree attachment for the KitchenAid.  Both worked admirably and I would highly recommend them.  The KitchenAid attachment was great to press the juices from the tomatoes.  The hand press' bigger hopper allows more tomatoes to be processed at once.  We each used one of the "tools" then passed all of the seeds and skins through the KitchenAid a second time to catch all of the pulp for our sauce.

To make a twenty-five lbs batch of tomatoes- 8 one-litre jars.