If you have been following along with the beef wellington posts, you will already have puff pastry, duxelles and green peppercorn sauce. You are practically finished already. Now it's time to put everything together and make some wellingtons! I'm giving instructions for individual portions because I like how they look on the plate: like little parcels or wrapped up gifts. They are more handsome served than slices of a large beef wellington, which never turn out like the beautiful, even layered cross-section slices I see in pictures on other recipes. For me, the slices wind up slumped sadly and frequently missing layers that got stuck to somebody else's slice. Making individual portions solves this problem and provides a very generous ratio of pastry to everything else.

Happy holidays, merry christmas, talk to you next year!

mini beef wellingtons:

1 beef tenderloin, thin end removed and saved for another use.
1/2 recipe puff pastry
1 recipe duxelles
4 slices pancetta
1 egg
a splash of cream
1 recipe green peppercorn sauce

Salt and pepper the beef on all sides and sear over high heat until browned all over. Remove and cool. Slice into four small steaks, as evenly sized as possible (I made them about 1 1/4 inches thick).

Mix the egg and cream to make a was for the tops of the beef wellington. Set aside.

Roll out puff pastry, using a bench scraper to keep it in a square. Roll it out until it is about 20" x 20". Cut the pastry into four equal squares.

Lay a slice of pancetta over a square of puff pastry, so that it hangs off the edge.

Smear a little duxelles over the pancetta and place a piece of tenderloin on top. Add duxelles to the top and sides of the beef.

Wrap the overhanging pancetta over the top of the tenderloin and pull the corners of the pastry over the top of the meat. Brush egg wash over the pastry edges as you work so the overlapping pastry is glued together.