Ryan and I will be celebrating the 14th anniversary of our first date this Valentine’s Day. Queue the collective, “awwwwwwww…..” I know, talk about a high pressure situation having a first date on Valentine’s Day! The past few years we have ditched the prix-fixe restaurant menus (mostly because dinner and a babysitter is more than we’re willing to spend on our current budget) and have opted for a quieter celebration at home. What’s the one dish that can go straight from Ryan’s stomach to his heart? Beef Wellington. So, I came up with this recipe for individual, personal-sized Wellingtons for two that will fit the bill for a romantic dinner with your sweetheart (full printable recipe at the bottom of this post).
Watch the video to get the story on why Ryan loves Beef Wellington and what exactly we did on that fateful night 14 years ago. I show you step by step how to get the perfect mid-rare on your steak that even Gordon Ramsay would be proud to eat.
Beef Wellington for Two
Many thanks to Ryan for being a good sport and putting up with me for all of these years. All our love to you and best wishes for a love-filled Valentine’s Day!
Beef Wellington for Two
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 2 Wellingtons 1x
Description
Easy beef wellington with filet mignon, mushroom ragout and puff pastry, perfect for two.
Ingredients
- 2 filet mignon
- 2 Tbs oil, divided
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbs butter
- 8 ounces chopped white mushrooms
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp thyme dried
- 2 Tbs dijon mustard
- 2 Tbs sour cream
- 1 sheet puff pastry defrosted
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Take your steaks out of the refridgerator and place on a plate rubbed with 1 Tbs oil and 1 tsp salt. Allow to sit out on the counter for an hour to remove the chill from the meat.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F with rack in center position
- Heat a heavy bottomed pan or pot to medium high heat with 1 Tbs oil. Sear steaks on all sides for 30 seconds to 1 minute per side, including the edges. You want to lock the juices into the meat. Exterior should be a nice brown sear. Once seared, place on a plate to rest until ready for the next step.
- Next, melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat and add in garlic, mushrooms and thyme, sweating out the mushrooms a bit, stirring occasionally for 3 to 5 minutes. Then add in the mustard and sour cream and continue to simmer, reducing to medium low until the mixture is not watery and is thick and creamy.
- Place your puff pastry on a clean work surface and roll it a bit longer and thinner, slicing it down the middle into two square pieces.
- Divide the mushroom mixture onto each of the two pieces of cut pastry, then place a steak on top of each pile of mushrooms.
- Next, fold up the pastry by pulling up the left and right side up over the steak and to the same with the top and bottom edges, securing with egg wash on the bottom. Cut off excess pastry if needed so that you don’t have too much pastry on the seam. Flip the pastry so that the seam is on the bottom and place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the other pastry.
- Brush both pastries with egg wash all over.
- Bake at 400F for 10 minutes then rotate the pan for even baking and browning. Bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes until the pastry is a golden brown and baked all over. Should be crusty when tapped with your fingernail.
- Remove from the oven when they’re done, then serve.
- *If you selected really thick cuts of meat and you don’t want them to be super rare inside, you can bake them a little longer. The standard thickness of the steaks I tested in this recipe were 1.25 inch thick and were medium rare after a total bake time of 18 minutes.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: English
*Original recipe by Joanie Simon (JoanieSimon.com)
May 17, 2016, 9:42 pm
I would totally recommend you for a show on the Food Network. You are so good at explaining stuff and cute. I’m 69 and we get bored making the same old stuff. All my family recipes makes too much food, so I was thrilled to see beef Wellington for two. We live in Florida for 4 months a year and there is a huge variety of small portion foods at Publix we enjoy. Then back to Michigan were there is a family size for everything. He only eats leftovers for 2 nights; the remainder to the garbage disposal. Often thought if there was a family near by that was too busy to cook, I could give them their dinner and there still would be plenty for us. I’m diabetic so I cook all natural or organic foods.
Thanks so much for the recipe.
May 18, 2016, 1:05 am
Hi Sandy! Thanks so much for your comment and glad you like the recipe! I’ll definitely keep you in mind in the future when creating recipes, noting cooking for two. It’s interesting how much groceries vary from place to place. Happy cooking to you and cheers!
February 12, 2017, 2:25 pm
The pastry is raw at the bottom it’s embarrassing
February 13, 2017, 3:18 pm
So sorry! Did you give it a go and have that issue? I did recently cook this up for some friends and found that making sure to trim the bottom properly really helped for thorough cooking.
August 16, 2018, 1:52 am
Antoine is talking about yours, the pictures. So raw!
May 15, 2022, 3:26 am
Video got rather annoying, towards the end. Not really interested seeing grown men, being fed, all got a bit sickly, zoned out and switched off.
Hope the recipe turns out better, than the screechy video.🤭
May 15, 2022, 6:55 am
Video got rather annoying, towards the end. Not really interested seeing grown men, being fed, all got a bit sickly, zoned out and switched off.
Hope the recipe turns out better, than the screechy video.🤭
February 14, 2017, 4:33 am
I made this tonight and it was perfect! Thankyou!
February 14, 2017, 8:26 pm
So glad to hear!!! I hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day! <3
February 14, 2017, 4:32 pm
I made this tonight – it was incredible! 5 stars. My pastry was not raw at the bottom as someone mentioned, instead it was really nicely cooked across the board. I overdid the steaks a little bit, but they were so tender and delicious it really didnt matter at all. Thank you for your help!
February 14, 2017, 8:21 pm
Oh my goodness, my pleasure! So glad to hear you enjoyed it. Happy Valentine’s and much love to you!
February 14, 2017, 5:34 pm
In the oven now, wish me luck! The mushroom mixture is fantastic!!
February 14, 2017, 8:20 pm
EEEpp!!! So excited! Hope you enjoy it and much love to you!
February 15, 2017, 12:05 pm
Here’s how my day went. Don’t worry, it has a good ending..
-all the ecards I sent so that she’d have pick-me-ups during the day…she didn’t look at them.
-The meatballs did not have a clear demarcation between the meat balls and the sauce, so as directed I mixed all ingredients, including 3 1/2 c. broth,. It turned into a soup that not even could have balled.
– the chocolate i used for dipping melted thicker than a milkshake. To get the chocolate dippable, i added oil, lots of oil.
– Don’t dip banana slices. The are hard to dry,(chocolate sticking problem) hard to hold and dip(bananas breaking and falling apart).
-The fresh mandarin organce slices kind of work except they were smal and the wedge shape made them hard to grip.
-The strawberries mostly turned out, except…
– remember the part of lots of oil. while oil got the chocolate to flow, the chocolate wouldn’t set. I had a tray of chocolate blobs with a piece of fruit in the middle.
– The Beef Wellington turned out beautifully!
Thanks for the recipe and more importantly, the video. I watch far to much Chef Ramsey and seen cook after cook be berated for screwing up the wellington multiple times. You video showed that it really that hard.
btw, i was able to laugh most of the day and more as it went on. I mean, what else could go wrong. Well, at least not the Wellington. Oh, in my defense, I served the Wellington with fresh vegetables and brussels sprouts. I didn’t screw those up, either. ?
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.
Well at least th entire day wasn’t an total unmitigated disaster. ?
February 15, 2017, 6:50 pm
Omg this recipe was amazing I added onion to the mushrooms and turned out awesome! Thank you for such a simple but wonderful recipe. I surprised my special guy and he was blown away!
March 10, 2017, 5:15 pm
Oh my goodness, so glad!!! Sorry for the delay in response. My notification thing is down. But, so glad you liked it and hope it was a wonderful Valentine’s <3
June 17, 2017, 5:43 pm
I made this tonight for ‘Date Night’ for me and my wife. Fantastic flavours and very easy to follow recipe. Wonderfully delicious and enjoyed by us both. It will be even easier when I master how to use frozen puff pastry!! Lol.
I will be making this again!! Thanks!!
June 19, 2017, 12:30 am
This is such great news! So glad! Thank you so much for letting me know and much love to you and your wife! <3
June 19, 2017, 12:31 am
That is so wonderful to hear!!! Glad you liked it and that it made your special night enjoyable. Much love to you and your wife! <3
December 24, 2017, 3:04 pm
I’m making this tomorrow for Christmas! This will be my boyfriends first time trying it, and he HATES mushrooms. Hopefully he doesn’t freak ? do you ever make the Red Wine or White Wine sauce for this? Thinking about pulling the sauce from another recipe to pair it with yours, but I’m not sure. May be perfect without it.
Thank you for the video! My dream is to one day go to culinary school, so things like this make me happy the internet is a thing.
December 24, 2017, 10:13 pm
Hi Ashleigh! I definitely think a red wine sauce would be fantastic with it! Merry Christmas and happy cooking to you <3
February 15, 2018, 1:44 pm
Hi Joanie!
My boyfriend’s favorite dish in the world is Beef Wellington, and I’m going to make it for him tomorrow night as a Valentine’s dinner! He has no idea. I just found your video & I’m so glad I did 🙂 You made it look so easy! I’m a little nervous to do it, but I had a quick question: I’ve never gone shopping for filets before. Is there a certain cut I need? He likes his medium rare too, so I just wanted to make sure so I don’t mess it up while cooking it. Thanks! 🙂
February 16, 2018, 1:57 pm
Hope it goes well! You’ll want to pick up filet mignon, a specific cut that’s a part of the tenderloin. If you talk to the butcher at your grocery store, they’ll point you in the right direction. And if you’re worried about the right cook on the meat, definitely using a meat thermometer is good. You’ll want it to register to 125F for medium rare (though I usually pull it at 118F so it carries over to 125F). Happy cooking!!!
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August 16, 2018, 1:54 am
Your pastry is raw
September 14, 2018, 10:32 am
Will this turn out ok omitting the Dijon mustard?
September 16, 2018, 11:31 am
Yep! It won’t have the same tangy flavor, but it won’t affect how to cooks up.
November 27, 2018, 12:54 pm
I made this 26 Nov 18. the consensus was there was too much mustard flavor, other than that an outstanding dish. I did “tinker” with the recipe and added an entire green onion minced, to the mushrooms. I also added 2 slashes in the top of the pastry to release steam. I did bake the pastries on parchment, the next time I will do them on a wire rack to crisp up the bottom. Regarding the mustard I will reduce it to 1 T the next time I make it.
January 23, 2019, 1:15 pm
Hi Joanie,
Great recipe. I will definitely try to cook over this weekend. I am a big fan of beef wellington and this looks delicious.
Thanks
February 11, 2019, 11:23 am
This looks wonderful. Can it b e prepared the day before up until the baking point and refrigerated as dough packages? I’d like to make it up on Wednesday for Thursday, along with potatoes and possibly veg, then bake this am make popovers onsite.
February 11, 2019, 11:24 am
This looks wonderful. Can it be prepared the day before up until the baking point and refrigerated as dough packages? I’d like to make it up on Wednesday for Thursday, along with potatoes and possibly veg, then bake this am make popovers onsite.
December 28, 2019, 4:57 am
Great recipe, will make it on new year . hope it will turn out to be good.
April 24, 2020, 12:39 am
It was delicious! Easy to make and it was my first time making this ever. so happy with the turn out, plus it was rare just to my liking.
April 25, 2020, 11:18 am
That’s wonderful to hear!
October 25, 2020, 10:50 pm
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January 12, 2021, 1:50 am
Great recipe! I just finished it last night and the result was unexpected, my wife and daughter both liked it, which made me happy. Thanks for your recipe.
March 28, 2024, 10:31 pm
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March 28, 2024, 10:36 pm
t’s very important to measure the flour properly. Stir the flour in the bag to lighten it up. Spoon the flour into measuring cups. Then level off the top.
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