by Mark Lipton » Mon Dec 15, 2025 1:37 am
Our annual Christmas party for our research groups was smaller this year, as our group sizes dwindle , so we upped the ante on the foods. Jean made mini lobster rolls and I made mini-Beef Wellingtons. I had to take several liberties with the classic recipe. For one, no foie gras both for esthetic and ethical reasons. Additionally, my blushing bride put her foot down about brushing the meat with Dijon mustard despite my insistence that it wouldn't dominate the flavors. So the actual preparation consisted of store-bought puff pastry (our party was on Friday, so we had 3 hours to prep the food), a large Australian beef tenderloin from d'Artagnan that required 20 min of trimming to remove fat and sinew and duxelles I made from 2 lb of shiitake mushrooms and 2 large shallots along with an obscene amount of butter. I cut the tenderloin up into four pieces and wrapped 3 in puff pastry and the fourth in gluten-free dough that I'd made for Jean and a student of mine. I scored the tops and gave them an egg wash and 30 min at 425°F produced 4 golden-brown Wellingtons that when sliced made for decent finger food. General agreement was that they were very delicious and the beef was sensationally tender (and medium-rare). I washed mine down with some '94 Bramaterra that was quite delicious.
