Recipe #200: Beef Wellington (Individual)

Welcome to recipe 200!  I've been searching for the perfect recipe for such an event... something different, special, and a little more involved than usual.  Wow, what rich amazing flavors!!  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com... it seems that beef wellingtons are often a larger tenderloin that is cut up, but I liked how this one used individual steaks.  I am posting the recipe exactly as allrecipes.com has it listed, with my comments in red (as I did a bit of adapting and changes).

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
6 (6oz) beef tenderloin filets (I just used two 6oz filet mignons!)
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms (Cut them pretty small...)
3/4 cup red wine
2 cups beef consomme (less than 2 cans)
1 (3oz) jar foie gras pate (I completely skipped this- see my changes how I made up for it)
1 (17.25 oz) package frozen puff pastry, thawed (Thawing takes 30-40 minutes, keep this in mind)
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour (More if you skip the foie gras- read on)
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Season the filets with salt and pepper, then fry on each side until browned to lock in the juices.  Remove from the skillet and set aside to cool slightly.

Add the mushrooms, wine and 1c beef consomme to the skillet; cook and stir over medium heat until mushrooms are tender.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the mushrooms to a small bowl, reserving the consomme.  Mix the pate with the mushrooms, adding a little consomme if needed to achieve a spreadable texture.  Divide the mushrooms among the filets and spread on the top.  Refrigerate about 30 minutes.  (MY CHANGES!!  Instead of adding pate, I left the mushrooms and consomme in the pan, and added flour slowly, stirring, until the sauce thickened enough to hold somewhat of a form that I could top on the filets.  I covered both filets with this topping and put them in the fridge, then added the rest of the can of consomme to the pan.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Lay the puff pastry out on a clean surface and cut out two 5-6 inch rounds for each steak.  Place a steak with its topping onto a round and bring the edges up around the sides.  Cover the top with a second piece of dough, overlapping the edges and pressing to seal into a package.  Repeat for other steak(s).  Place the Wellingtons onto a baking sheet, and brush the tops with beaten egg.  (NOTE:  The Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets I bought came as a package of two.  I finagled them to fit around the steaks with enough left over to drape some over the top.  I don't see how one box of this stuff could cover 6 6-oz steaks, so keep that in mind.)

Make for about 12 minutes, for rare, 16 minutes for medium, or 20 minutes for well done.  Remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 5 minutes.

While the steaks are cooking, make the sauce.  Melt 3tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until browned.  Stir in the green onions, and cook for about a minute.  Gradually stir in another cup of consomme; continue to cook and stir until the sauce thickens.  Reduce heat and stir in the wine.  Continue to simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and parsley.  Season with pepper to taste.

To serve, cut each Wellington in half and spoon some sauce onto the plate.  (I probably overdid the sauce, since I kept the same sauce amount for 1/3 of the steaks, but it's too good to not pile it on!)