Grilled Beef Wellington
Deciding “What’s on the Grill” every weekend is not always an easy process. There are always things I have to grill, depending upon what I’m working on, but oddly enough, putting a dinner menu together can sometimes be a challenge. Well, most weekends.
With Thanksgiving over and Christmas not but a few weeks away, the holidays and entertaining are front and center. While we were not entertaining this weekend, I suppose it’s the spirit which led us directly to the idea of having Beef Wellington. I say “us,” as Zoë claims it was her idea, based on some English Christmas memories she had floating around. I said it was mine as I had just read Pat LaFreida’s excellent cookbook, Meat, and recalled his great Wellington recipe.
While we may never agree on our chicken and egg predicament, we did come to terms with dinner. It was excellent.
Beef Wellington takes some effort, but it is truly not that complicated. While it is traditionally prepared in the oven, I never let that stop me from adapting it for the grill. I prefer my beef outdoors.
Beef Wellington with Mushroom Cream Sauce
Adapted from Meat by Pat LaFreida and transformed to the grill by me
Mushrooms - Duxelles
2 T olive oil
2 T unsalted butter
1 pound mixed mushrooms (I used cremini, shiitake, and portobellos) stems discarded, finely chopped
2 diced medium sized shallots
1/2 t kosher salt
1/4 t fresh ground black pepper
1 heaping T minced fresh sage leaves
Wellingtons
2 beef filet mignons (about 4 ounces each - mine, as you will see, was a little too big)
2 t kosher salt
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (1/2 box)
1 (8-inch) flour tortilla
flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Sauce
1 cup heavy cream
In a large cast iron skillet, heat the butter and olive oil over medium-high heat on a side burner or stove top. Add the mushrooms and cook until wilted and slightly brown, 12-15 minutes. Add the shallots, salt, and pepper.
Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the shallots are softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the sage. Set aside and allow to come to room temperature.
The Grill
Grilling Beef Wellington requires a two zone medium-high heat fire (425-450 F). For simplicity, and most notably the use of the cast iron griddle, I used my Weber Gourmet BBQ System grate. More on this later.
Ready the grill by placing a chimney of lit coals, in a semi-circle, around the outside of one half the grill.
Season the beef with salt and pepper and sear both sides, directly over the coals, for 30 seconds each. Remove from the grill and allow to cool.
Take the puff pastry out of the freezer and set on the counter.
One issue with Beef Wellingtons is when the meat and duxelles create a soggy puff pastry. Funny enough, this was the exact complaint on a lister call-in on this week’s podcast of America’s Test Kitchen. You want crisp golden brown pastry, not soggy mush. To prevent this, LaFreida uses tortillas. It’s a brilliant safeguard.
Fold each tortilla into quarters.
Either unfold the tortilla and make 2 1/2 inch rounds in each quadrant, or power through and do them all at once. I do not have a biscuit cutter, so I found a glass with the same diameter. With a little bit of steady pressure, it worked great.
On two of the tortillas, use a knife to make a small “x” in the center.
Dust a work surface with flour and unfold the puff pastry. Make two 6-inch rounds and two 3 1/2-inch rounds.
If you don’t have the tools, find a similar size glass and bowl.
On the two small puff pastry rounds, use a knife to make a small “x” in the center.
Place the large puff pastry rounds on parchment paper and place a non-vented tortilla round in the center of each.
Spoon a tablespoon of mushrooms on to the tortilla round. Spread the mushrooms so it covers just the tortilla.
Place a filet on top of the mushrooms.
Note: While Zoe’s smaller filet was more appropriately sized, my larger cut was a little too…big. In hindsight, I should have made my puff pastry rounds a little larger. Lesson learned. When making Beef Wellingtons, size does matter.
Place another tablespoon of mushrooms on top of the filets and then add the vented tortilla round.
Place the 3 1/2-inch puff pastry round on top of the tortilla round.
Then, with wet fingers, lift the puff pastry up the sides of the filets and seal with the top round. Use your fingers to crimp the two pieces together.
Place the Wellingtons in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Back to the Grill
Add another half chimney of lit charcoal to the existing coals in the grill.
The final step of Beef Wellington is “the bake,” which means we will be grilling indirect. As I mentioned before, I opted to use the GBS griddle. The griddle is a great conductor of heat and a solid surface. Since we are grilling puff pastry, I felt the griddle provides better results than placing the pastry directly on the grates. Don’t have the GBS griddle, a large cast iron skillet will work….but the griddle, and its low lip, is really well suited for this task.
Make two collars out of aluminum foil that are about 2 inches wide. Place the collars around the Wellingtons to add support during the initial cook.
With the grill at medium-high heat (425-450 F - the higher heat is necessary for the puff pastry to set up), place the Wellingtons and their foil collars in the center of the grill.
Lower the lid and allow to cook for approximately 10 minutes.
Raise the lid, remove the foil collars, and brush the Wellingtons with the egg wash.
Lower the lid and continue to grill. For medium rare, figure another 10-15 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the Wellington is 125-130 F.
Remove from the grill and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
To make the sauce, place the remaining mushrooms in a cast iron skillet. Cook for several minutes over medium heat, then add the cream and cook for another 5 minutes or until the cream begins to reduce.
Serve.
Yes, my filet was a little large, which is why one of the Wellington’s suffered a blowout. None to worry, while I may have gotten a C in presentation, I ate the whole thing, and there is nothing average about that.
