Individual Beef Wellingtons

This dish is one that I made for Andrew when we were first dating and he loved it so much that I still make it for special occasions, such as Valentine's Day! There are lots of beef wellington recipes out there and most of them are pretty complex so I've tried to simplify it while not sacrificing the flavors.

Individual Beef Wellingtons - serves 4

2 T butter

8-10 cremini mushrooms, finely diced

2 shallots, finely diced

1/2 t dried thyme

2 T white wine

1/5 lb smooth pate (I usually buy a truffle mousse pate)

4 small beef tenderloin filets, seasoned generously with salt and pepper

1 pkg puff pastry dough

1 egg, separated with only the whites reserved

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms, shallots, thyme and wine. Saute until the liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are lightly browned and softened. Remove from heat and let cool.

To assemble, lay out each sheet of puff pastry and cut each sheet in half. Place a heaping tablespoon of the mushroom mixture in the center of each piece of puff pastry. Top with 1/4 of the pate and a filet. Fold the pastry around the beef, careful to pinch the seams closed. Cut off any extra pastry dough. (With the extra dough, you can cut out designs to top the wellingtons to make them fancier.) Beat the egg white with a tablespoon of water. Gently brush the egg wash over the tops of the wellingtons. Bake in the preheated oven 15-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

**Alternatively, you can buy a tenderloin roast (instead of separate filets) and make one large beef wellington, which is more traditional and better if you prefer your meat to be rare to medium-rare. When the filets are baked individually, they're more likely to cook more thoroughly.