What is the perfect Beef Wellington?

[Joe_the_Lion]

There are many variants on the internet, i.e some with pate on the beef, some with chopped liver, others insist the beef is rare, others medium. Short crust pastry, puff pastry etc etc etc.

What is your perfect Beef Wellington in all aspects?

[fine,thanks]

fillet of beef, ideally rare, pate, puff pastry.

[society]

Individual Beef or Scallop Wellingtons

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup minced shallots
1 cup diced fresh button mushrooms
salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 (3 ounce) beef filet mignon
(or 1 beef and 2 scallops to make two different kinds)
or beef tenderloin, about 1-inch thick (or 1 beef and 2 scallops to make two different kinds)
or 4 large sea scallops (or 1 beef and 2 scallops to make two different kinds)
4 ounces sliced pate, cut in half vertically (use your favorite pate, chicken, pork, or duck mousse)
1/2 sheet frozen prepared puff pastry, thawed, cut in half
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil


cont. under

[society]

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2 Melt together butter and oil over medium heat.

3 Add shallot and mushrooms, season to taste with salt and pepper, saut� until mushrooms are browned, about 5 to 7 minutes, then add garlic and saut� for an additional 2 minutes.

4 Add the sherry, stir, saut� until sherry evaporates; remove from heat.

5 Heat a nonstick skillet, drizzle with a little olive oil, and sear both sides of beef (leaving the middles rare) and/or the scallops; set aside and keep warm.

6 Mix together the beaten egg and water to make an egg wash.

7 On a lightly floured board, roll each piece of the puff pastry until they're about 10"x6" big; cut a thin strip, about 1/8th inch thick, from the 6-inch ends of the pastries and set aside for decorative purposes.

8 On each piece of pastry, place half of the mushroom mixture, top with half of the pate, and then either 1 piece of seared beef or 2 seared scallops.

9 Brush the perimeter of the pastry with the egg wash.

10 Gather two opposite corners of the dough together, then the other two, and twist the 4 corners to seal.

11 Loosely tie the reserved strips around the top of each Wellington.

12 Transfer Wellingtons to a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet (a non-stick baking pan should be okay, too), brush each Wellington with egg wash and sprinkle with minced basil.

13 Bake at 400 degrees F until they've turned a golden brown to your preference; remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 5 minutes.