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Beef Wellington is a notoriously difficult thing to get right. Even for the best cooks, getting the beef and the puff pastry to the correct doneness at the very same time can be a little tricky. But this version of Beef Wellington doesn’t pose the same challenges. Because it uses ground beef (think of it like meatloaf meets puff pastry), there’s a lot more flexibility with temperature… but still a whole lot of amazing flavor.
Like a traditional Wellington, this still features a duxelles – a mixture of finely chopped mushrooms and onions that’s cooked down until it’s almost like a paste – so it feels much fancier than any standard meatloaf. Plus, how can anything wrapped in buttery puff pastry not feel at least a little fancy? But fancy doesn’t mean fussy or difficult. At least not in this case.
You start by mixing together the beef with some eggs, thyme, rosemary, Worcestershire, breadcrumbs and other goodies and shaping it into a loaf.
Next, you cook the duxelles and spread it out on the puff pastry once the mixture has cooled a bit, stopping about an inch and a half from the edge. The meat mixture goes on top…
… and the puff pastry gets folded over to seal all the goodness in.
A little egg wash helps things stick.
Set the Wellington seam side down on a baking sheet and cut a few slits in the top to allow steam to escape during cooking.
And then bake until the beef is cooked and the pastry is a lovely golden brown. You have a wider temperature range to play with here than you would with a tenderloin and if the meat gets a little bit overcooked, it’s not quite as big of a tragedy. It’s a much more manageable Wellington, but still totally scrumptious.
Ground Beef Wellington
Yield(s): Serves 6
1 hour 15 minutes
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
- 3 eggs, divided and beaten
- 4 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion, minced
- 8 oz baby Bella mushrooms, minced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the beef, 2 of the eggs, breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, Worcestershire, salt, and black pepper until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add onion and mushrooms and cook until soft and onions are translucent.
- Add garlic and red wine and cook until liquid has reduced. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Dust a piece of parchment paper with flour, and roll puff pastry sheet to 1/4-inch thickness. Spread mushroom mixture out evenly in center of puff pastry, leaving a border of at least 1 1/2 inches on all sides.
- Form beef into a meatloaf shape and place in center of puff pastry. Fold over longer sides of pastry, brushing with beaten egg to seal. Trim remaining ends if necessary, then brush with egg was and fold ends over to seal in beef.
- Place seam side down on prepared baking sheet. Brush top with remaining beaten egg and make a few slits in the top of the pastry. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake for 25 minutes, then reduce heat to 375°F and bake 25 minutes more or until internal temperature reaches 165-174°F.
- Allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.