I admit that I’ve always wanted to try making Beef Wellington, but never had wanted to take it on. We were looking for something fun to make for Valentine’s Day, and decided to finally give it a go…and I wish I had done so sooner, as it was excellent. Labor intensive, but worth it. Of course I used Gordon Ramsay’s recipe as a guide, but I have to say that I also used Delish’s recipe as well. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised with their recipe ideas. Two things of note – I made two Wellingtons, one with a gluten-free pastry crust, and one with a regular. The gluten free was still delicious. Second, neither of us likes mushrooms too much, so I made the duxelles with caramelized onions and olive tapenade. Still fantastic.

• 1 (2 lb.) center-cut beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied with twine in 3-4 places
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• extra-virgin olive oil, for greasing
• 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 lb. mixed mushrooms, roughly chopped )
• 1 shallot, roughly chopped
• Leaves from 1 thyme sprig
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 12 thin slices prosciutto
• all-purpose flour, for dusting
• 14 oz. frozen puff pastry, thawed (gluten free worked as well)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• Flaky salt, for sprinkling

Note: I doubled this to make one gluten free, and one…well, not. Because although “fine,” gluten free pastry just isn’t as good.

Over high heat, coat bottom of a heavy skillet with olive oil. Once pan is nearly smoking, sear tenderloin until well-browned on all sides, including the ends, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. When cool enough to handle, snip off twine and coat all sides with mustard. Let cool in fridge.

Make duxelles**(see after recipe): In a food processor, pulse mushrooms, shallots, and thyme until finely chopped. Add butter and melt over medium heat in your skillet. Add mushroom mixture and cook until liquid has evaporated, about 25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then let cool in fridge.

Place plastic wrap down on a work surface, overlapping so that it’s twice the length and width of the tenderloin. Arrange the prosciutto on the plastic wrap into a rectangle that’s big enough to cover the whole tenderloin. Spread the duxelles evenly and thinly over the prosciutto.

Season tenderloin, then place it at the bottom of the prosciutto. Roll meat into prosciutto-mushroom mixture, using plastic wrap to roll tightly. Tuck ends of prosciutto as you roll, then twist ends of plastic wrap tightly into a log and transfer to fridge to chill (this helps it maintain its shape).

Heat oven to 425°. Lightly flour your work surface, then spread out puff pastry and roll it into a rectangle that will cover the tenderloin (just a little bigger than the prosciutto rectangle you just made!). Remove tenderloin from plastic wrap and place on bottom of puff pastry. Brush the other three edges of the pastry with egg wash, then tightly roll beef into pastry.

Once the log is fully covered in puff pastry, trim any extra pastry, then crimp edges with a fork to seal well. Wrap roll in plastic wrap to get a really tight cylinder, then chill for 20 minutes.

Bake until pastry is golden and the center registers 120°F for medium-rare, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before carving and serving.

**If, like us, you’re not huge fans of mushrooms, you can try caramelized onions and/or olive tapenade. I used both and it was great! You will still want to follow the rest of the instructions for the duxelles.**

Gordon Ramsay recipe: https://www.gordonramsay.com/gr/recipes/beef-wellington/

Delish recipe: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a58702/easy-beef-wellington-recipe/