Beef Wellington + Bison's Chocolate Stout

Okay, I have no idea how this popped into my head. I woke up yesterday morning and declared, "I've never made Beef Wellington. Today's the day."

No idea if I had been dreaming about it...or how those two words surfaced in my mind. But I decided to do some reading and take a stab at it. I read four different recipes. Two had pâté; two didn't. One used mustard. All mentioned mushroom duxelles - what is that?!!? And all included prosciutto and puff pastry wrapped around a beef tenderloin.

This is my own version, an amalgamation of Tyler Florence's Ultimate Beef Wellington, Chow.com's Classic Beef Wellington, BBC's Beef Wellington, and the version from Simply Recipes. Not sure this is anything close to what a traditional Beef Wellington is...but it was the perfect end to my 2014 Mothers' Day celebration.

Ingredients

• puff pastry (mine was not homemade)
• beef tenderloin (mine was 2 pounds)
• duxelles (mushroom paste)
• prosciutto
• 1 t freshly ground salt
• 1 T dried thyme
• 2 T spicy mustard
• 1 egg, beaten

Procedure
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Season your tenderloin with dried thyme and freshly ground salt. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Sear your tenderloin in a hot pan with a splash of olive oil - just long enough for the meat to seal in the juices - approximately 1 minute on each side.

Lay your prosciutto slices out, overlapping the edges so that there are no gaps. Spread the duxelles over the proscuitto - about the length of your tenderloin.

Rub 1 T of spicy mustard on one side of the tenderloin and lay that side down on top of the duxelles. Rub the other tablespoon of mustard over the top.

Carefully wrap the tenderloin with the prosciutto so that it is completely covered.

Roll out the puff pastry and place the prosciutto-wrapped meat in the center. Fold the puff pastry completely around the meat and place it on a parchment-lined baking dish, seam-side down. I had a few extra pieces of dough and made a few hearts for decoration. Cut some slits in your pastry. Brush the entire surface with beaten egg and place in the oven.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. The pastry will be browned and puffed.

Let rest for 10-12 minutes before serving. I paired it with Bison Brewing's Organic Chocolate Stout. Note, mine completely fell apart when I sliced it. So, there were no gorgeous slice photos with the puff pastry still intact. I did some more reading and found that was a common problem. I suppose I'll have to give this another go and use a really sharp knife for carving next time. If you have any other Beef Wellington carving tips, I'm all ears!