JBug's Kitchen Antics: Beef Wellington

It's so wonderful to have the big guy home again. He rolled in around 11:00 a.m. bearing gifts of roses, chocolates, a stuffed monkey for Max and a lovely wonderful beautiful sentimental card. He made my eyes all leaky. Darn - I hate when that happens.

Of course that was all before I proceeded to drive him nuts trying to make dinner perfect, and while there were a few small glitches like a cut right thumb and a burned left one, it went off without any stitches required. Amazing! I admit, I get into panic mode in the kitchen every once in a while and the big guy just shakes his head, grins and stays outa' my way. Not only is he a softie, he's a smart softie.

Last night's menu started with our new favorite salad of mixed greens, apples, walnuts, red onion and a maple vinaigrette that I posted a few days ago, followed by beef wellington with a mushroom marsala sauce, potato gratin and roasted asparagus. Dessert was coffee caramel creme brulee.

Beef Wellington is one of those "looks difficult, but really easy" entrees to serve when you're in the mood to impress. For the most part, it needs to be prepped in advance which meant this cook was fairly free to panic over other menu items. Against tradition, rather than using pate' or prosciutto in addition to a mushroom duxelle, I simply topped the seared tenderloin with sauteed mushrooms and crumbled gorgonzola cheese. Wrapped in a blanket of ready made puff pastry, it was beautiful, impressive and darned delicious. Download Beef Wellington with Gorgonzola

As for the potato gratin, I layered thinly sliced and peeled red potatoes, minced shallots, coarse ground pepper and herbed goat cheese into individual ramekins along with some heavy cream and gave them a 20 minute start in a 425 oven, before the beef went into the oven. What about the sauce you may ask? I can only take credit for the inspiration. It was actually a ready made beef gravy that I purchased at Sprouts, along with a couple tablespoons of Marsala wine and the rest of the mushrooms I wasn't able to fit onto the beef filet. What can I say? Easy - yes. Delicious - yes. Home made - well it depends on what your definition of "home made" is.

Now about dessert - another Bon Appetit recipe, this one's from the March 2009 issue and has been on my list to make ever since I first spotted it. Creme Brulee is the big guy's absolute favorite dessert and this one is really different. Crushed coffee beans are steeped in heavy cream, joined by a home made caramel sauce and with the addition of egg yolks, magically turn into a creamy, rich, fabulous little caramel cappuccino flavored brulee. Mine looks quite dark because I let the coffee steep for a long time, and thankfully I only made half the recipe or I'd be eating one right this second. It was wonderful - really, truly wonderful.

So that's the end of my story. I've a kitchen to clean up, a little shopping to do, a trip to the library and oh, there's mountains and mountains of laundry to get done. It's all kind of campy if you know what I mean ...my great white hunter returneth bearing other gifts too. Wonder when someone's going to invent disposable huntin' clothes.