Beef Wellington with Truffle Red Wine Sauce

Week one hundred. I have been keeping this log since I started the blog, in a rough way — not exactly weekly, but close to it, tracking what I cooked and what was happening in my life and how the two connected. Week one hundred feels like a marker, even if the weeks themselves are just weeks. I am twenty-two years old, newly hired as a teacher, living at home in Oak Lawn, and the version of me who started the blog at twenty was so deep in grief that she barely knew what she was eating. The cooking has been a way of staying tethered. It still is.

Celebrated the job by starting to plan in earnest: apartment hunting in Chicago, near the school. The salary is $42,000, which is not much — I knew this going in. CPS starting salary for a first-year SpEd teacher. The blog has a Patreon page now, very small, but it brings in enough to matter. I am going to make this work. I have been making things work on very little for two years. This is not different. It is just larger scale.

Made a proper beef stew this week — chuck roast cut into cubes, browned in the cast iron, then transferred to a pot with potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, beef broth, Worcestershire, a bay leaf. Two hours low simmer. The cast iron sear builds a crust on the beef that the long braise doesn't undo — it deepens. The stew got thick and dark and serious. It was the best thing I had made in months.

Ate it over two days. Brought a container to Babcia Rose. She tasted it and said "The beef is cooked right." From Babcia Rose, this means she cannot find fault with it. I am writing that down in the notebook: Week 100. Got the job. Made a beef stew worth eating. Babcia Rose said the beef was cooked right. That is a good week. That is a very good week.

The stew was right for that week — humble, slow, built on a cast iron sear and patience — and it proved something to me about where I am now. But writing up the recipe for week one hundred, I kept coming back to the idea that this marker deserves something with a little more ceremony, the kind of cook that asks you to be deliberate and trust yourself through every step. Beef Wellington with a truffle red wine sauce is that recipe: technically demanding, deeply satisfying, the sort of thing you make when you want the food to match the weight of the moment. Babcia Rose would not say a word against it.

Prep Time: 40 min | Cook Time: 50 min | Total Time: 1 hr 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 lbs center-cut beef tenderloin, trimmed
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
8 oz cremini mushrooms, finely chopped (duxelles)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, finely minced
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp dried thyme
6 slices prosciutto di Parma
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed (about 14 oz)
1 egg, beaten (egg wash)
Truffle Red Wine Sauce:
1 cup dry red wine (such as Cabernet Sauvignon)
1 cup beef broth
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp truffle oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Sear the beef. Pat the tenderloin dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet over high heat until shimmering. Sear the beef on all sides, 1—2 minutes per side, until deeply browned. Transfer to a plate and brush all over with Dijon mustard while still warm. Let cool completely.
Make the duxelles. In the same skillet over medium heat, melt butter and add shallots and garlic. Cook 2 minutes until softened. Add mushrooms and thyme. Cook, stirring often, 10—12 minutes until all moisture has evaporated and the mixture is dark and dry. Season with salt and pepper. Spread on a plate and cool completely.
Wrap in prosciutto. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on a clean surface. Arrange prosciutto slices in an overlapping layer. Spread the cooled duxelles evenly over the prosciutto. Place the seared tenderloin at the near edge and roll tightly, using the plastic wrap to form a compact log. Twist the ends and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
Wrap in pastry. Preheat oven to 425°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll puff pastry to a rectangle large enough to enclose the beef. Remove plastic from the beef log, place at the edge of the pastry, and roll to enclose, sealing the seam and ends tightly. Brush all over with egg wash. Score the top lightly with a knife if desired.
Bake. Place seam-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 25—30 minutes until pastry is deep golden and an instant-read thermometer reads 125°F (medium-rare) at the center. Rest 10 minutes before slicing.
Make the truffle red wine sauce. While the Wellington rests, combine wine, broth, shallot, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Simmer until reduced by half, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat, whisk in butter and truffle oil, and season with thyme, salt, and pepper. Strain if desired.
Slice and serve. Cut the Wellington into thick slices with a sharp serrated knife. Plate and spoon the truffle red wine sauce alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Beef Wellington with Truffle Red Wine Sauce — The Week I Finally Cooked Something Worth Writing Down