Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Danielle Dishes Up - A recipe I've always wanted to try

Beef Wellington
Recipe from: Rachel Ray Magazine
Taste Rating: 8.4 out of 10
Execution Rating: 6
Learned: That it takes 40 minutes to defrost puff pastry dough.  That I should have all my ingredients cut & ready before turning on the stove and that my chef knife is sharper than I thought - OUCH!
I have had this recipe for a while and every time I would see the picture I would just drool.  I finally decided that during my week of vacation I would be able to give it the time it needed and decided to go for it.  Boy, do I underestimate the timing of things!  I didn't know it took 40 minutes to defrost pastry dough sheets.  I didn't know I had to let the meat sit in the fridge for 30 minutes after I put the mushroom topping on it and I didn't know it would take me so long to chop 2 pounds of mushrooms. Needless to say an hour after I thought it would be ready I did end up with a very pretty golden brown Beef Wellington that was cooked to perfection (thanks to my handy dandy new thermometer - which I properly calibrated thank you very much).  The flavor was very earthy tasting with the portobello mushrooms and thyme.  I used Beef Tenderloin from Harter House and it was worth it - so tasty.  I enjoyed the pastry dough but overall I thought it was missing something - a gravy or something to balance that earthiness.  I was very pleased my result being my first Beef Wellington to ever make, but don't think I'll try this one again for a while - it did take a lot of steps. 

So how did I find out my chef's knife was so sharp, you ask? When I used it like it was my Rachel Ray knife and cleaned the food off with my hand - I got myself a nice (paper cut sized) slice on my left palm.  So glad I didn't do that in class!  Gotta get use to my knives!

No comments:

Post a Comment