couldn't wait a week for WOOSDAY: Christmas Wellington

stike

<p />We had a small 1.5 pound tenderloin roast left over in the fridge, but when i walked into the butcher shop (to get ONLY pate'), i ended up walking out with a three pound top-choice tenderloin. For my wife and I. hmmm. so i'm not a mathemetician i guess.[p][p]In the photo above, on the Left is the tenderloin, tied, after searing it. It had marinated in some aromatics and cognac, sherry and some port. The upper right is the duxelles, just before mixing in that jumbo chunk of pate'. Before wrapping in pastry, I untied the tenderloin.[p]I spent a lot of time on the forum yesterday waiting for the pan sauce to reduce, here it is doing it's thing. Half a bottle of red wine, the marinade, herbs, etc. My wife was all for just sitting down with bread and eating the mushroom/pate' and the sauce. [p][p]Here's the Wellington ready to go on the egg. Lookit me, all fancy with the holly and berries and all. Ha ha ha. I dunno. had extra dough, and the leaves helped cover the seams of the pastry sheets. [p][p]here's the "fancy" pic again. This thing smelled incredible.[p][p]My slice. big medium rare center, thin seared line around the exterior.[p][p]this wasn't supposed to be a late Christmas Day dinner, but we'd been eating all day, the kids were strung out, and it took me a while to put it together (blame the fire and scotch). So we ate by the fire as the kids crashed upstairs in bed.[p][p]For you wine-o-philes... The wine was one of a pair of '57s that i got a while back from a collector who wanted to fund his semester at grad school. I helped him a little. maybe covered the cost of his his text books. I figured it'd be a little past, but '57 was a great year, and there was nothing missing here. My wife (who has the better palate) pronounced it the best ever. We have one left. Torn between keeping and drinking it. [p][p]Thanks for putting up with my blathering yesterday. hahaha (especially the good doctor). It was the second day in 20 years when we didn't have to "be somewhere" Christmas Day. The only other Christmas spent quietly was our honeymoon. So, yesterday was a two-bottles-of-champagne, some scotch, and a bottle-of-great wine-by-the-fire kinda day. It fueled a gentle state of mirth the whole holiday. [p]Hope you all had a good one, too.
J

Buster Dog BBQ

stike,
Wow, you are a master chef. Looks great. Gotta enjoy the quiet time while you can.

Essex County

stike,
It all looks great! Only one mistake. Never drink a bottle of wine without someone at least as old as the vintage. I could have helped. But did you ask?
Paul

stike

Essex County,
i saved the bottle with the better label. we were already thinking of drinking it with you both on the 12th! [p]i also have a 1915 burgundy. how old ARE you willing to admit to, anyway?[p]

thirdeye

<p />stike,[p]I guess we did miss Woosday ..... well there was no shortage of pictures, especially prime rib. It was the most popular Christmas cook on all of the forums I hang out on. For today, I'll post a shot of Saturdays dinner, a fish and chips plate featuring salmon.[p]You Wellington looks outstanding, I like the detail work on the dough.[p]Happy belated Woosday
~thirdeye~

stike

Buster Dog BBQ,
thanks for the compliment. no, i'm no 'master chef'. i think it may have marinated too long. and half the reason the sauce took all day was that when it reduced it was too salty, so i added more wine. then remembered the marinade was supposed to go in, and added that, and had to reduce it again. kept messing with it.[p]if i had any brains, i'd have know what i was doing!

stike

thirdeye,
salmon looks good. how'd you do it?

fishlessman

stike,
thats some of the best looking egg food ive ever seen posted on the forum. i was talking to some people about what i cook on the egg this past weekend and their reaction was that they dont like smoked food, wonder what they would think if they were served that.

Lawn Ranger

<p />stike,
You're truly an artist! That's beautiful. Probably would be great stuffed with turkey. )[p]We did the tenderloin thing too,...along with some grilled veggies and about a million other sides and deserts.[p]Had tenderloin and eggs for breakfast.[p]Mike[p]

thirdeye

stike,[p]I seasoned the salmon with Tony C's and black pepper, lightly dredged it in corn meal and fried in olive oil, about 1/8" deep in a heavy pan. It came out at 135° to drain on a rack and finish cooking.[p]~thirdeye~

Essex County

stike,
sometimes rules are just meant to be broken.
Paul

stike

thirdeye,
i was wondering if it was fried. the crust looked great and i was hoping you'd egged it!

stike

fishlessman,
thanks, man. coming from you, that is quite a compliment.[p]my wife invited my brother and his wife and kids down today for dinner (we really only finished two slices last night) and they asked if they could bring anything. darlene said "no. we have plenty. we're just having leftovers". hahaha 'leftovers'[p]it wasn't smokey at all. all this talk all week about 'bad' tasting smoke, and letting the fire establish, and this is really the first time i ever needed to do that. i had a bunch of ribs and gunk on the grid and platesetter, so i let the fire go a while to burn clean. no smoke on the roast other than from what i added during the sear of the naked tenderloin.[p]i have one friend that always asks "so, have you been cooking on your smoker lately?" i don't bother explaining any more that "it's not really a smoker. well, it is, but it's a grill too, or an oven... " i just say "yeah. been cooking..."[p]you are back sooner than i thought,. didn't you go to maine? how were the pork pies?[p]

stike

Lawn Ranger,
"tenderloin and eggs for breakfast". damn. sounds good.[p]i can't touch the roast again til tonight.[p]and thanks for the kind words. when i was a kid, we'd probably beat up some dude that made holly out of puff pastry.!

fishlessman

stike,
heading up tomorrow or friday, maybe get 3 days of skiing. ive got the final recipe posted down below for the pies, not overly spiced, just the way they used to taste when my grandmother used to make them. dont want to make those for a while now, i made about 10, changing the recipe every time except the last 2.

thirdeye

stike,[p]Well, I don't know why you couldn't. I've cooked trout that way my whole life over campfire coals. You have such a small amount of oil in the pan, it's not like you are deep frying it or anything.[p]~thirdeye~

stike

thirdeye,
ah. i just thought it was deep fried.

stike

fishlessman,
christmas eve they (the in-law wimmin) were all talking about the recipes for the tourtier they'd seen on the web, and everyone, including the last aunt, was saying "i don't care for the ones with all the spices...". must be a different regional thing. they didn't know "anyone" who made them that way.[p]sounds like your grandmother's weren't spiced much either.[p]

thirdeye

<p />stike,[p]No, just about 1/8" depth of oil, and not too high of heat. When the crust starts looking good, the fish will be ready. Now, don't get the wrong impression here...I love deep fried fish too. Heheee.

fishlessman

<p />stike,
this is the recipe i went with, it still has some spice but all the quantities were small, something that is strange is that if you double it for two pounds, dont double the clove, allspice or cubes, add a pinch more but dont double it, for some reason it gets overpowering. my grandmother would have used real broth, i dont think she would have had allspice paprika or white pepper in the cabinet, but i do like a little bit of allspice in the pie. she would have made the crust from crisco as well, but this is a good excuse to use lard

TRex

stike,[p]That wellington looks delicious, and I echo the champagne/scotch/wine experience - we had the same here yesterday - quite a good progression.[p]Glad you had a quiet, relaxed Christmas at home.[p]TRex

ThrRoff

fishlessman,
LOL. Interesting way to get a recipe, but is certainly works. Saved to file. Many thanks.

Suck Creek Wings

stike,[p]Good Lord that looks good. Well done. [p]Merry Christmas.

fishlessman

fishlessman,
i wont put a computer in the house, so i have this system where i put the recipe in a memo book and index it by page number in the back. i might just be the last of those that writes things down by hand. if you look closely you can see that there is a bean pot drawn on the next page with the secret family boston baked bean recipe

Bobby-Q

stike,
In some parts of Alabama and a couple of areas in New York they would beat you up as an adult for making holly out of puff pastry.

stike

Bobby-Q,
hahaha
pretty much anywhere i guess, now that i think about it![p]yoo bastid.[p]

stike

fishlessman,
i was gonna ask about the bean pot. i saw it in yer post below. so. how does the OLDER bean recipe end up on a apage after the much more recent pork pie recipe?

stike

Suck Creek Wings,
thanks man

AlaskanC

Bobby-Q,
Holly berry puff pastry is one thing, but using the word mirth would definitely get a few teeth knocked out.[p]unless stike is a girl, which I am beginning to suspect......[p]

stike

TRex,
thanks.
i think the "quiet" part is done.[p]two nieces are headed over to play Wii with my two maniac boys. and i don't think scotch will help.

stike

AlaskanC,
you show me yours and i'll show you mine.