What's for Dinner? Ground Beef Wellington

Filet Mignon Taste and a Ground Beef Budget

Since I have been doing my videos for Youtube, I have had more than one adventurous viewer request that I demonstrate how to cook Beef Wellington.  Now you can imagine the first ever request for this fancy schamncy dish put me over the top, but then I got another and then another.  What to do?

I can assure you that I, although well versed in the kitchen have never attempted to make such a culinary wonder, but I was up for the challenge.  The only thing holding me back?  The economy!  Taking a look around at the current state of the economy had me worried that making such a dish would be like rubbing salt into the wound of a broken and flat broke foodie.  Beef Wellington is amazing with its layers of flakey pastry wrapped lovingly around a beef tenderloin that has been buddied up with duxcel of mushrooms and goose liver pate and tenderly brushed with nothing but the best Dijon mustard.  But lets be real, this is not a dish for the faint of heart nor the weak of wallet!

So what was I to do?  I did what any self respecting video blogger would do.  I politely ignored the request and went along my happy way doing other things to please and tantalize the pallets of my viewers.  Then one day, not so long ago, I was visiting the store and I saw it, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Cookbook.  Now I am a huge fan of Jamie, having followed him all along from his days being dubbed the Naked Chef and boy was I happy to leaf through this book in the store, but as I leafed I realized that I needed to take this book home.  Much like a visit to the pound will result in you acquiring another pet, a visit to the bookstore will most assuredly guarantee the procurement of one if not several new tomes.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I read cookbooks from cover to cover along with a stack of sticky notes to mark the recipes that I will be trying.  You should also probably know that I am a self professed cookbook junkie, having spent years building a library that would rival the most intense cook among us.  But like cats, there is always room for one more.   One afternoon while reading this book, page after page, sitting the waiting room of the doctors office, I discovered this lovely recipe for Ground Beef Wellington.  This was the answer!  I was so excited, I believe I embarrassed my daughter but at 13 that is not hard to do. 

So, now I had everything I needed, a great recipe, an answer to the expensive problem and you.  Everyone can afford a pound of ground beef, along with the other ingredients, this dish did not cost a lot to make.  In all, this dish can cost anywhere from $10.00 to $15.00 depending on if you purchase organic meat or regular.  The puff pastry is around $4.00 and the other ingredients are all easy to come by.  Don’t want to use Portabellos?  Use Criminis they are smaller and they are actually baby portobellos, or you can just use regular white button mushrooms.  But don’t leave out the mushrooms and don’t forget that potato is important too, because the starch from it will help to absorb any of the liquid from the veggies and meat as it cooks in it’s little pastry cocoon.  I made the mistake of leaving out the potato, and while the dish was still amazing, I saw why the spud was necessary.

So without further Adieu, I give you the fanciest meatloaf you will ever make:  Ground Beef Wellington.

GROUND BEEF WELLINGTON

Here is what you will need to make this dish:

1 medium onion chopped

1 carrot chopped

2 stalks of celery chopped

2 garlic cloves chopped

2 Portobello Mushrooms roughly chopped

1 potato finely diced

Olive oil (around a tablespoon)

1 Teaspoon of Marjoram, Thyme or Rosemary

1 Large egg beaten

Sea salt

Cracked Black Pepper

2 Sheets Puff Pastry (I used 1 box of Pepperidge Farm Brand it’s in the freezer)

In a large skillet heat olive oil.  Sautee’ all veggies until soft and the potato is fully cooked, around 15 minutes.  Place the hot veggies on a small baking sheet and spread out into a thin layer.  Place the sheet in the fridge for around 15 minutes and allow to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the veggies, ground beef, salt, pepper, herb of your choice and half of the beaten egg.  Blend with your hands until the mixture is well combined.  Set aside while we work with the pastry.

Lightly flour a board or your counter and take the puff pastry and unfold both sheets and slightly overlap them and roll together.  Do not make the mistake of leaving them out for too long, because they will stick to themselves as mine did, but I just rolled them together with a rolling pin and everything was fine.

Your puff pastry should be around 12 inches by 16 inches with the long side in front of you.  Take the meat mixture and form a long log or sausage shape toward the long front side of the pastry.  Brush the remaining egg mixture along all edges, this will act as a glue to keep the pastry together while cooking.  Roll the pastry around the beef mixture and roll, leaving the seam side down under the log and pinching the ends together so the whole thing looks like a loaf of French bread. 

Transfer to a baking sheet line with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing. 

I served this with steamed cauliflower with browned butter bread crumbs.  There is no need to make a starch because the puff pastry is rich enough.  A green salad on the side would be a lovely addition as well. 

I hope you try this and I hope you enjoy it.  Look for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Cookbook, along with this recipe there are lots more that are wonderful and I look forward to making some of them for you.  I also understand that he is coming out with a new book very soon dealing with 30 minute meals.  Check it out, you will not be disappointed! 

I hope you try this and I hope you enjoy it.  As always Happy Eating!

What's for Dinner? Comfort Food:Classic Salisbury Steak

Let's take a trip down memory lane.  Now I am on the precipice of my 45th birthday so my memory lane and yours may not take the same highway exit, so bare with me.  The year is 1979, I am 12 going on 13, I am in the 8th grade. Can you hear the BeeGee's playing in the background?  For the most part, I would say that I had a very generic, Brady Bunch, American suburbia, Bologna and Wonder Bread type of child hood, Dad was en electrician, Mom was everything else, Cook, Maid, Chauffer, Laundress, Pet Groomer, Family Organizer, Teacher, Cupcake Baker and Drill Sergeant. She was room mom and taxi cab driver, team leader and Girl Scout Cookie drive organizer.  But most of all, my mom was the best cook ever.

 I never liked going to other kids houses to eat dinner, out of sheer fear.  I remember once I went to a friends house for dinner and was served up what they said was "Hungarian Goulash".    Trust me, I would not eat anything that had the word Goulash in it for years and years!  SCARY!!    I wanted to run right home and eat WHATEVER mom was making for dinner.  If I was lucky, it was something like this recipe I am sharing today, Classic Salisbury Steak.  Coming home after school, there were days when you knew what you were having before you even hit the driveway, because Mom had been in the kitchen simmering something all afternoon.  The aroma greeted you at the door and wrapped you with love.  It said, "Welcome Home, no matter what happened today, it's all gonna be fine, as soon as we eat dinner and share as a family."

While growing up a night did not go by that we did not dine together, my mother, father, brother and myself.  Of course as we grew older, there were times when we could not eat due to schedules and extra curricular activities, but it was a requirement that dinner be eaten together as long as it was possible.  I think that this is so very important, because we all have busy lives.  Sometimes these small moments make a big difference.

I know on the surface that this may not seem like typical comfort food.  As comfort foods go, this is one of mine.  Mini meatloaves that have been stuffed full of good flavors simmered slowly in a savory brown gravy and served with the king of comfort, mashed potatoes!  Does anyone make Salisbury steak anymore?  I know that my husband said he had only ever seen it in the Swanson Hungry Man Dinner.  Ewww!  T.V. Dinners and I do not get along, same with canned soups,  I just think they taste like the can they came in.  Occasionally, you will see me use a canned "cream of" soup, but mostly you will not.  But I digress, sorry for that inexplicable tangent.

Good food is easy to make.  I understand that sometimes the prospect of cooking dinner can be daunting.  I work full time in a legal office and trust me there are plenty of evenings when the last thing I want to do is cook, but once I get started, slice open that onion, throw it in the skillet and get the kitchen smelling like dinner, it's all down hill from there, and I am happy to be in my favorite place, my kitchen.  Preparing a meal for my family and sharing it with them.  After all food is love and excellence is love in action.  So it goes without saying that excellent food is one of my deepest expressions of love.  So go express yourself, make something great for your family tonight, whatever it is, it doesn't matter,  just make sure you eat at the table together, not in front of the television.  Talk about your day and share your dreams, even in the most mundane of actions, you are creating memories and futures for your children.  No matter what you think, they will remember what you cooked for them, they will forget about lots of things but they will never forget what you made for them.  So what are you waiting for?  Let's get cooking!

CLASSIC & COMFORTING SALISBURY STEAK

Here is what you will need to make this recipe:

STEAKS
2 Pounds Ground Sirloin
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms (please use fresh)
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons Ketchup
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 Medium onion chopped very fine
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Butter

GRAVY:
2 cartons of Beef Stock
3 Beef Bullion Cubes
1/2 to 1 Cup of Wondra Flour
Kitchen Bouquet to taste

Mix together ground sirloin, eggs, onions, garlic, castup, Worcestershire, breadcrumbs, parsley and thyme.  Mix by hand or use your mixer with the paddle attachment.  If you only have beaters I would advise against this as they will mix the meat to harshly and make the steaks tough.  Form the meat into oval patties.  I got 7 steaks that were approximately 6 to 6.5 ounces each.

Melt butter with oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Place steaks in pan and cook until browned.  About 3-4 minutes per side.  Remove from pan.

Drain any excess fat from pan and if you got the bottom too browned, clean out the pan.  Add in a bit of oil and your mushrooms along with just about 1/2 cup of stock.  Start adding in the flour a little at a time and whisk after each addition add in the remainder of the stock and whisk until smooth.  You can add the kitchen bouquet at this time along with three bullion cubes.  I added these at the end and did not mention in the video.  they brightened up the gravy in a big way. The stock was a little flat.

Once the gravy has thickened, add the steaks into the pan and simmer for 15 minutes covered.

Now you are ready to serve these lovely little morsels that will take you back to your mom's kitchen.  I hope you try this and I hope you enjoy it.  Until next time, See Ya!