We are rednecks; not “T-top rednecks” or the rednecks that use the Confederate Flag in the back of a pick-up truck to make a statement, but just country-classy rednecks. You know the boiled peanut, front porch swing, sweet tea, meat and three type redneck? Well, tonight, we shoved the redneck in us to the side and decided to go upscale.

We love to find coupons and save money on cooking great meals, but that doesn’t always mean we eat cheap food.  This recipe uses a great cut of Filet Mignon, which is costly, but can be found on sale often and is worth every penny.  This is a take on the classic Beef Wellington dropping the liver pate, and replacing it with thinly sliced ham or prosciutto.  It is one of Blake’s favorite and only alterations of tenderloin.  Blake prefers this with no sides so it sits beautifully on a plate or wide bowl all alone, and it gives him an excuse to pig out on appetizers and dessert!

Eating this dish makes you feel like royalty or dining at a 5-star restaurant, and it does take a decent amount of preparation, but it sounds and reads much harder than it is.  It is actually a good deal of fun and a great time in the kitchen.  It is not that hard at all, and once you do it one time you will see how easy it is to cook it for 2 or 8 people with almost no added effort increasing the size and it can be a real crowd pleaser.  Enjoy!!

BEEF WELLINGTON

Serves 4

Total Price- $21.96

Total Price per Person- $5.49

Average Retail Price- $51.60

Total Savings- $29.64

Precut Beef Wellington

1 puff pastry (Phyllo Dough)

4-6” section of tenderloin

7 thin slices of ham or prosciutto

1 ½ cups mushrooms

½ vidalia onion

pinch of salt, pepper

1 tsp coarse salt

4 tbsp butter

1 tsp oil

2 beat eggs

1 can beef stock

3 tbsp red wine

The picture doesn't do it justice

1)      Take out one puff pastry and let it begin thawing, and preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2)      Mince up the mushrooms and Vidalia onion as fine as possible.  A food processor works perfectly.  This will be the consistency of paste so if you lack a food processor feel free to smash it, bash it, and do whatever you can to get it to a paste.  Cooking it and then crushing it up with a blunt object will work fine.

3)      Heat 1 ½ tbsp butter in a medium sauté pan, and add the mushroom and onion mixture with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Saute for 10-12 minutes until a fine paste forms and set aside.

4)      Heat a sauté pan up on high heat with a very thin layer of oil or butter spray.  Add ½ tbsp of butter when the pan is hot and place the tenderloin section into the pan.  Brown on all sides, roughly 1 minute per side.  Add ½ tbsp butter each time you turn it.  Set aside the tenderloin, and set aside the pan off of the heat, but keep the pan drippings in the pan.  DO NOT wash the pan.

5)      Let the beef and mushroom mixture cool to room temperature.

6)      Lay out a portion of plastic wrap on the counter.  Layer it with the thinly sliced ham starting at the left side.  It needs to be a big enough layer to complete surround the meat.

7)      Spread the mushroom and onion mixture thinly on the ham.  It should be roughly 1 cm thick and just a nice spread.  Imagine spreading jelly on a piece of toast.

8)      Place the tenderloin in the center of the ham, and fold the ham all around the filet.  Wrap it in the plastic wrap so that it is nice and tight and place into the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes.

9)      While it is cooling take the sauté pan from earlier and place over high heat.  Add the can of beef broth, and the red wine.  If there was any meat trimmings or some spare onions laying around throw them in there as well.  Thyme sprigs also go well in this.

10)  Bring to a boil and keep at a high simmer until it reduces down about 80% to a nice syrup texture.  If it gets too evaporated and stuff is sticking to the pan add another splash of wine or water and scrape up all the goodies from the bottom of the pan.  Set the sauce aside.

11)  On a floured surface place the puff pastry and roll it out until it is enough to wrap around the tenderloin and about half as thick as it is out of the box.

12)  Take the wrapped tenderloin out of the fridge and remove the plastic wrap.  Place it onto the rolled out pastry in the center.

13)  Brush the pastry all over with the beaten egg yolks, and then wrap it around the tenderloin.

14)  Trim pastry so that there is as little overlap as possible.

15)  Place the pastry wrapped tenderloin seam side down in a pan and brush thoroughly with the beaten eggs.

16)  Sprinkle the coarse salt over the top if you have it.

17)  Score the top of the pastry with a sharp nice, but do not cut all the way through to the meat.

18)  Place in the oven and cook for 25-27 minutes for rare-medium rare, 27-30 minutes for medium rare, etc.  This is based on a 4” portion.  If you have a meat thermometer 125-130 degrees is a good medium rare.

19)  Remove from the oven and let set for 5-10 minutes.

20)  Slice as you would slice the tenderloin, into 1-2” portions depending on size you want.

21)  Drizzle with the beef and red wine sauce and serve immediately.

SALES used in this recipe

Prime Beef Tenderloin- Patton’s Meat Market $8.99/lb for whole loin

Average Retail- $19.99/lb when purchase pound per pound

Pillsbury Puff Pastry- Publix 3/$5.00 plus Manufacturers Coupon for $0.40 doubles

Average Retail- $2.49 each

Mushrooms- Super H Mart $0.38/ container

Average Retail- $2.49/conatiner

Onions- Super H 3lb bag for $0.98

Average Retail- $3.99/3 lb bag

Boar’s Head prosciutto- Publix $11.29/lb

Average Retail- $24.99/lb