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

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I decided to give this a try to see how it would work out. It was a complete success and so I am writing down the recipe to keep for future reference.

Ingredients:
4 Large sweet potatoes
2 Cups grated parmesan cheese
Potato Flour or Potato Starch
1 egg
1/2 Tbsp Butter or margarine
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Boil the sweet potatoes until soft.

Strain out the water and using a potato press, puree the sweet potatoes*.
* sweet potatoes absorb more of the water than potatoes do. Before mashing the potatoes, squeeze the press gently to squeeze out the excess water, then mash the potatoes into a bowl.

Add the egg, butter, salt and pepper to the potatoes. Also add about half the quantity of potatoes of flour, and mix.

The overall dough should be light, and still slightly sticky but not too much so.

roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut and mould into appropriate sized shapes. Some recipes also recommend putting the dough in a piping bag and sniping off pieces of dough as it comes out of the bag.

Add the gnocchi to salted boiling water and boil until they start to float.

Serve warms with butter and salt, or sauce of some kind.

Sauce recommendations: The sauce from the previous recipe (the goulash stew creation), Alfredo sauce, or Mushroom sauce.

Tips: Do not add too much flour since the result will be too heavy. If you are worried, boil a small amount of dough to see how it tastes before deciding whether to add more flour.

If you run out of potato flour, you can add normal flour. Too much normal flour however will weigh down the gnocchi.

If you are feeling experimental, you can try different cheeses. One option is to substitute the parmesan with cottage cheese (drained) and add nutmeg and cinnamon then serve with butter and sugar.

What Happens When You Want to Make Goulash, Stroganoff, and Stew?

You get creative! Or maybe that's just me.

I took some ground beef and cooked it with garlic and onion. I melted some butter, added a tablespoon of flour and added beefstock, tomato sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, rosemary, salt, honey, tossed in the minced meat and some noodles, and voila!

So far the result is delish! Must keep.

Apple Faux Samosas

I love the taste of baked apple. I was looking for something to make as a side with a molasses maple apple cider pork tenderloin.
I immediately thought of apples and I tried to think of something new to make. This is what I came up with.

Apple Samosas:

Filling:
2 Apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
1 Cup of Raisins
1 1/2 Cups of Fireball whiskey
1 Clove crushed garlic
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp Chile flakes
1/2 cup Molasses
 4 or 5 Strips of Bacon, baked and crumbled

You can use puff pastry for dough.

Toss the raisins in a pot and add molasses, garlic, vinegar and whiskey.
Reconstitute the raisins by simmering them in the whiskey. Stir often since the mix will become a toffee quickly.
Add the raisins to the cubed apples, along with the chile flakes, and the bacon.

Roll out the dough and cut into squares. Add a tsp of fillings and fold into triangles. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 Degrees. If you would like a nicer brown colour, you can use an egg wash.

You can also fry the samosas.

Bon Appetit!