Rebecca Nielsen's Recipe

Bleu Beef Wellington

Category: Beef

Makes: 2 servings
Difficulty Level: 3
Prep time: 20 minutes

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Ingredients:
2 (2in. thick) beef tenderloin steaks
2 T good olive oil
2 T butter
1 large shallot finely chopped
5 sprigs thyme or 2 T rosemary finely chopped
1/4 c sweet marsalla wine
4 oz. creamy bleu cheese (I use roquefort)
1 sheet puff pastry (9 x 12) dough defrosted (about 30 minutes)
1 egg, beaten with 1 T half & half or cream

Directions:
Put chopped shallot, 1 T olive oil and butter in cast iron pan. Sautee shallots till just softened. Add thyme or rosemary, cook 1 minute then add marsalla wine. Turn down heat and cook til liquid is almost gone and mixture has thickened slightly. Remove from pan.

Rub remaining tablespoon of olive oil over steaks and season with salt and pepper. Put in pan and turn heat to med-high. Sear steaks on all sides about 2 1/2 minutes. Turn off heat.

Take out thawed puff pastry and put on lightly floured surface. Pinch seams together well with fingers and roll out till smooth. Do not press down to hard with rolling pin. You are doing this to smooth seams out to prevent tearing, not to make thinner or larger. Cut dough into 2 rectangles.

Spread half of the shallot mixture in the middle of each dough rectangle the same shape as your steak. Crumble 2 oz of the bleu cheese over each shallot mixture. Place steak on bleu cheese.

Wrap the the dough around the steak like a package and put seam side down on parchment or silicone lined metal baking sheet. If dough tears, pinch back together and/or take a piece off the extra dough on the bottom to cover. The egg wash will act as glue to seal it. Don't be alarmed by the extra dough on the bottom. You want it there to soak up all the juices. Cut a vent on the top of each steak package. Brush each one with the egg wash, be sure to cover all over accept the bottom.

Bake for 20 minutes turning the pan after the first 10 minutes til golden. Remove promptly and let stand for 5 minutes. This always comes out medium rare all the way through every time.

I know this isn't a traditional beef wellington but we don't like mushrooms and we Love, Love, Love bleu cheese with our steaks. The great thing about doing your wellingtons this way is the awesome combination of the shallot mixture, bleu cheese and steak juices that meld together. The dough "package" tastes so heavenly that I sometimes save half of it to eat seperately from the steak!