Beef Wellington
Instructions
(You may substitute the finest grate of braunschweiger of equal weight).
Sprinkle meat with a very little salt and pepper. Heat butter and oil in skillet and sear the meat quickly on all sides, just to brown it well. Remove meat and allow to cool to lukewarm before proceeding with the wrapping and baking.
Meanwhile, separate stems from mushroom caps. Chop the stems very fine and saute them in the skillet, then remove to double-thick paper towel and squeeze out all moisture. Blend cooked stems with pate and two tablespoons of the Madeira. Reserve. Saute mushrooms caps in the butter remaining in skillet and when they are cooked, add remaining 4 tablespoons Madeira, bay leaf and rosemary. Simmer one minute and turn off heat and hold until serving time. Reheat at last minute and serve in gravy boat.
PASTRY FOR BEEF WELLINGTON:
Stir salt into flour. Add butter and shortening and cut into flour with pastry blender until crumbly. Stirring lightly with a fork, gradually add enough of the egg yolk-water mixture to make a workable pastry. It may not take quite all the liquid.
Roll out pastry to 1/4 inch thick and trim, using a ruler, so that it is one inch longer than the piece of tenderloin and one inch wider than the circumference of the meat. Spread pate mixture over pastry, leaving one inch all around edges without the covering. Place meat in center and bring one side of pastry up over the meat. Wet the edge of the pastry and bring up the other side, overlapping.
Place, seam side down, on baking sheet, then close pastry over ends in a neat package. Roll and cut pastry scrap, placing strips in crisscross or other decorative fashion over the top. Make incisions near the pastry decorations at intervals in order to release steam. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes for medium-rare. Allow a little less time for rare, more time for well done.
