BEEF WELLINGTON WITH CHESTNUT AND AGED CHEDDAR PATE

Some will argue that this recipe is not a proper Wellington since it lacks a mushroom duxelles, however, original recipes actually use pate rather than duxelles and so since the chestnuts are made into a pate, I stand by the name. :P

Chestnut and Aged Cheddar Pate 
200 g of Roasted Chestnuts
200 g of Aged Cheddar; grated
Fresh Thyme
1 Clove of Garlic
1/4  Yellow Onion
1 Strip of Bacon

Put the chestnuts in a blender and grind. Cut up the bacon into small pieces and toss into a hot frying pan, turn down to medium and fry until crispy. Toss in the onions and garlic and caramelize. Add ground chestnuts and fry until everything is nice and dry.

Add a bit of fresh thyme, and the cheddar and mix.

Set aside to cool.
Beef Wellington
2 small strips of beef tenderloin. Also possible tenderloin medallion steak.
Puff pastry
100 g of Prosciutto (or 200g Lachsschinken)
Chestnut Pate
Mustard Mix: dijon, horseraddish, mesquite bbq sauca, honey
Egg Yolk
Salt and Pepper

Follow instructions x 2 (once for each tenderloin piece) 

Clean a piece small piece of beef tenderloin of skin and large fat. sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss into hot skillet with hot olive oil and sear on all sides. Remove from pan and let rest. Immediately
after removing from heat, paint on a mustard mixture and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes.

Lay out some prosciutto on some saran wrap. Make sure they overlap slightly and that there is enough to fully cover the tenderloin. Put a layer of the chestnut pate on top of the prosciutto and then place the tenderloin on top. Using the Saran wrap, roll the prosciutto and chestnuts around the tendloin, making sure the ends are also closed, then roll the saran wrap tightly to give it a round shape and make it tight.

Put into fridge for 15 minutes or more to set.

Take out bundle. Roll in single layer of puff pastry, using saran wrap again to roll into right shape.

Put into fridge for 5 minutes again. You can also leave it in the fridge overnight to use the next day as well.

Preheat oven to 400. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes then at 350 for 10 for rare, 15 medium, 20 well done. Let rest for 10 minutes and serve.

This recipe is a modified version of the recipe presented in this Gordon Ramsey Video. I recommend watching the video to see Chef Ramsey’s amazing technique in how he does things. I tried to make a video to show a well but experienced some technical difficulties. I will however be trying again at some point so stay tuned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uXIPhxL5XA

Asian Fusion Pierogi

Beef and Cabbage pierogi are pretty standard among Polish cuisine. I have never been a huge fan however.
Then a few years ago I found a great Korean BBQ restaurant, where the combination of meat and cabbage was shown to me in a different light. I fell in love and I wanted to see if I could bring the fusion to Polish cooking. I decided to take the flavours of the Gyoza and put them inside a pierogi.

1 lb ground beef
1 cup of grated cabbage
1 cup of soy sauce
1/2 cup of fish sauce
1/2 cup of rice vinegar
2 tbsp of chopped green onion
1/2 tsp chile flakes
1 tbsp of grated ginger
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
1 tbsp honey

Pierogi dough

Brown the ground beef, pour off fat, and bled dry to make the meat very fine.
Add all of the seasoning ingredients.
Let the liquid simmer out

Roll out the pierogi dough very fine.
Add 2 tsp of filling and seal tight. Make sure there are no holes in the dough and that the edges are sealed tight. add to boiling salted water and boil till they float on the top.

Fry or bake the cokked pierogi to get a nice crisp, or serve boiled.

Ania's Infamous Stew

This is one of my favourite meals to make. Not only is it comfort food for a chilly day, it also impresses guests, and still lets me get work done. It is easy to change around depending on what you have lying around the house.  This recipe started out as one of my mother’s. It is a variation on one of my favourite childhood meals that I used to call “dokładka” which means seconds in Polish. My mother sent me the original recipe during my first year of University, and I made it using a dorm room hotplate, and a small convection toaster oven. Over the years, I added a variety of small changes which eventually resulted in this amazingly versatile dish. After all this time, it still remains a favourite.

Stewing Beef:

1 ½ -2 lbs Beef, cubed*

Paprika

Garlic (crushed)

Salt

Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Olive oil

Broth:

2 Bay Leaves

Whole pepper kernels

Chicken Bouillon cube

1 leek

1 yellow onion

2 large carrots

3 medium to large potatoes**

1 cup of corn

1 cup of peas

1 package favourite gravy sauce

Marsala Wine

Paprika

Cayenne Pepper

Equipment:

Stewing Pot

Strainer

Frying pan
Very Large heat resistant bowl or second pot

Time: 3-4 hours

* My favourite cut of meat to use for this is eye of round, because I love it when the meat just falls apart. You can also use steak cut, stew cubes, loin, really any cuts of beef you have lying around the house. If you have a freezer, this is a great way to use up any frozen pieces of meat before they go bad. Different cuts of meat will require different lengths of stewing depending on how delicate or tough you like it.
** There are some small variations you can make to change up this meal. You can leave out the potatoes, and serve the stew over rice for a more filling meal. You can also add a sweeter Latin or South Pacific flair to this dish by using sweet potato instead of plain potatoes.  The very brave can try adding yucca, although I would recommend adding it an hour before serving, to make sure it is cooked all the way through.

How to:

1.       Make sure the meat is cut into cubes between 1-2 inches square.

2.       Rub the meat with salt, ground pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, and crushed garlic. (If you want to really saturate the meat with flavour, let it sit in the marinade for an hour to a day. Otherwise, you can proceed immediately)

3.       Heat olive oil in a frying pan until the oil is hot but not burnt. If you add a drop of water it should sizzle.  Right before you add the beef, lower the heat to medium. Add the cubes and stir consistently at first to avoid them sticking to the pan and burning. The meat should quickly coat with oil and brown nicely.

4.       Brown the outside of the meat completely. 

5.       Add a cup or two of water to the skillet.

6.       While it is simmering, add whole leeks and carrots to a pot, along with bouillon cube, bay leaves, pepper kernels, and fill with water. Take a large onion, peel it and cut it in half. For an added flavour, grill the middle side of the onion directly on the burner until it has a light brown colour. Add the onion to the vegetable broth mix. Add paprika and cayenne pepper to taste.

7.       Bring the vegetable broth to a boil, then lower to medium heat and allow it to simmer for one hour. Keep an eye on the meat mix to make sure the water does evaporate. The meat should always be covered in simmering water. Stir the meat occasionally to keep from burning. The more water you can add to the skillet, the less often you will have to stir it and refill it.

8.       After an hour, strain the vegetable broth into a large bowl. You can discard the leeks and bay leaves (some people like to keep the leeks; I find them to be too mushy after boiling. All of the nutrients are now in the broth) as well as the pepper kernels. Add the package of gravy to the bowl of broth and mix together.

9.       Pour the broth-gravy mix back into the pot. Add the meat with the simmering water. Cut up and add the cooked carrots.  If there is any space left in the pot, add more water and let the whole mixture simmer for another hour. Stir occasionally.

10.   About half an hour before serving, peel and cube the potatoes and add directly to the stew. Add also the peas, corn, and any other vegetables you might be interest in adding. If you prefer a thicker stew, add an extra gravy packet and either a tablespoon of flour, or a teaspoon of corn starch.

11.    Once the potatoes are fully cooked, add Marsala wine. One shot of wine is usually sufficient.

12.   Serve and Enjoy!

Lessons from a Beef Wellington

The other day I had some friends coming over. Before they came, I sat down and watched an episode of Hell's Kitchen, just as I was deciding what to make for dinner.

Someone had burned one of the beef wellington again and I thought to myself, why not try it? Why not try to make beef wellington. I had always been curious about the taste. I had filet mignon and some puff pastry. How bad could it be?

The idea in principle was pretty good. I came up with my own take on the recipe and thought I would give it a try. Here are some things I learned along the way.

1. If you have a a bottle of wine reducing on the stove, don't get distracted with political conversation. You will burn the wine and it will turn solid. Interesting, but also hard to clean and will fill your house with smoke.

2. NEVER try to make a beef wellington for the first time at 8:30 at night, when you have to get up early the next morning. Especially if you are going to keep getting distracted with talk that makes you abandon what you are doing to emphasize your point.

3. Remember you are using puff pastry and not pie pastry, so waiting for the spaces between the egg yolk to turn a bit more golden will result in overcooked beef.

4. If your steaks have been in the freezer for a while, even if they are still good otherwise, you may want to marinate them in order to make them more tender.

5. Even when everything goes wrong and you end up eating an overcooked but otherwise good beef wellington past midnight, with the house still smelling of burnt wine, good friends can still salvage the night and make it great.


That being said, if not for the overcooked part, the wellingtons' themselves were quite good. This recipe is going on the keep pile, with a couple alterations to be tested.