We started the meal off with a few appetizers including these steamed asparagus wrapped in prosciutto. This app is a cinch. Simply steam jumbo asparagus, drop in an ice bath to stop the cooking, dry, and wrap each with 1 prosciutto sheet. Use chopped chives as a garnish then chill for 20-30 minutes before you serve. It's easy to make ahead of time. Our other app was crackers with brie, havarti, and slices apples. Simple and delicious. We served these with a 2007 Coppola chardonnay which I found for $10 - a bargain!
Now it's time for the beef wellington. Use only the best ingredients you can and that includes top quality center cut tenderloin. The tenderloin is your star so treat him like one and don't even think about skimping on ingredeints here. I used Tyler Florence's Ultimate Beef Wellingon. The recipe is a bit over the top hence the "ultimate" moniker but it's great none the less.
The preparation is time consuming so I started a few hours before the guests arrived. I followed Tyler's prep so I'm not going to type it here. Here's the final procuct after the first stage. We made two Wellington's since we had 8 people. Last time I made this we barely had enough to serve everyone. It's better to have more than not enough. Duh.
About an hour and a half before we ate I removed Wellington from the fridge to allow the meat to come to room temp. I then being stage 2 of the preparation. Remeber this takes time so give yourself plenty of it. See what I said about time consuming? While the Wellington cooks you can make the green peppercorn sauce and your sides. We had rosemary garlic mashed potatoes and a simple spinach arugula salad with diced radishes.
After 4 hours of cooking the meal finally came to fruition - here's the final product!
Happy birthday Mom! I love you!
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