I am one of those people that love doing themed foods. Don’t hate me for it. I fully embrace making heart shaped pancakes for Valentine’s Day and eating corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day. Before I dragged my husband to see Julie and Julia, the movie about a blogger who cooked her way through Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”, we stuffed ourselves silly with escargot and souffle at a little French bistro near the theater.

So, when the last season of Downton Abbey was going to start on PBS, I knew I had to find a good, classic English dish to prepare to celebrate the show. While the exact origins of beef Wellington are in dispute (as I discovered when I did some poking around), it felt solidly British enough to make it my new challenge.

I adapted a recipe from a couple different recipes I found online, but I won’t include my full recipe and instructions here as my final product was a bit overcooked, due to an errant thermometer probe. As is, this beef wellington was really so delicious that my husband and I were texting each other about how awesome it was while we were both eating the leftovers the next day. Since this was a fair bit of work to put together, it might take some time before I tackle this kind of project again, but if I do, I’ll hopefully be able to provide an accurately timed recipe.

However, I thought I’d provide an overview of the process of putting it together with pictures. And, next time, I’d make sure my knife was a bit sharper before trying to slice through the puff pastry and beef!

You will see very few recipes on this blog that feature mushrooms, as I don’t care for them, but felt they were essential enough to the dish that I got over my fungus fears to include them here. My beef Wellington was made with a beef tenderloin, about 2.5 pounds, topped with a layer grainy mustard, then a layer of sauteed mushrooms and shallots and then I smeared a 5 ounce slab of truffled mousse pate on top of it all, before wrapping it all up in puff pastry. Rich? Yes. Delicious? Absolutely.

For celebratory effect, I added a pastry champagne flute added on top as a “cheers” to the final season of Downton Abbey. I served each carved slice with the delicious and beautiful  Cauliflower Steaks with Cauliflower Puree.

It’s important to tie up your beef before browning it so it holds its shape. Remember to remove the ties before wrapping it up in the pastry.

Minced shallot and mushrooms.

Sauteed mushroom and shallot mixture with sherry. Ready to be added to the beef.

Browned beef slathered with grainy mustard, truffled liver mousse pate and sauteed shallot and mushrooms right before getting wrapped up in puff pastry.

Topped with a pastry Champagne flute and egg yolk wash.

Fully baked Beef Wellington, ready for slicing!

The finished product. While the middle was cooked pretty well, my meat therometer was placed incorrectly, so the roast as a whole ended up baking longer than necessary. Beef Wellington should be served quite pink throughout. Also, next time, I’d make sure we sharpened our knife before slicing to ensure a cleaner cut.

The final, plated product. Beef wellington with cauliflower steaks and cauliflower puree.