A Beef Wellington Recipe With Bacon
Who doesn’t like Beef Wellington? It is a lovely dish of tender meat and mushroom duxelle wrapped in pastry. It is a dish sure to impress, but not a dish that gets put together in short order. Plus, the use of beef tenderloin can make it a bit more pricey. Sure, you can use a turkey breast or a pork loin, but those aren’t full of beefy goodness that makes for a good Wellington. It is easy to re-create a Wellington into what I like to refer to as the Poor Man’s style. It is basically a full deconstruction and rebuilding of the classic to fit a weekday meal occasion.
Essentially what is happening is that the classic Beef Wellington recipe is being turned upside down and pinwheeled. Yes, pinwheeled. A sheet of puff pastry is opened. Ground beef is layered on the sheet of puff pastry. This is rolled up, sliced and baked. Pinwheeling is a great format upon which to build flavors. First, the puff pastry can be brushed with anything from ketchup to hoisin sauce. The ground meat can be changed to ground pork, chicken, turkey or sausage. Even tofu could be used. And the list of additions to the meat is endless ranging from mushrooms to cheese. This is a perfect dish to get your creative juices flowing.
For further inspiration I also like to think of the pinwheel as a fancy evolution of the hamburger, but one that does not stray far enough to avoid the flavors of my favorite hamburger – the bacon burger. Some ground bacon mixed with the beef gives the dish that nice bacon impact that is very tasty. A nice addition to my favorite burger is mushrooms, and this keeps the spirit of the Beef Wellington alive and well. In this version the mushrooms and onions are simply sautéed. A mushroom duxelle, a sort of mushroom spread used to coat the meat in the classic beef wellington, could be made and used instead. Additionally, if you would prefer not to add the bacon to the meat, just bake up some bacon strips,layer them in and continue pinwheeling.
Here is my Poor Man’s Beef Wellington Recipe with Bacon, Mushroom and Onions.
- 1 9x15 sheet of puff pastry
- 1/2 lb lean ground beef
- 1/2 lb of your favorite bacon
- 1/4 lb of white mushrooms
- 1 small sweet onion
- Ketchup
- Mustard
- Salt and Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- In a food processor or using a knife, chop the bacon into a mince.
- In a medium bowl gently mix the ground beef and ground bacon.
- Press the meat mixture into a 8x8 pan (This is help to shape the meat into a thin, square. It may be difficult to do this right on top of puff pastry)
- Clean and slice the mushrooms.
- Peel the onion. Cut the onion in half. Slice the onion into thin half moons.
- In a medium saute pan, heat 3 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. When hot, add the onions and sauté until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook until tender and slightly browned. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool.
- Open the puff pastry and unroll it. Spread a thin layer of ketchup and mustard onto the puff pastry to taste.
- Place the meat onto the puff pastry starting at one edge of the puff pastry's long side leaving a 1 inch perimeter of puff pastry on the opposite edge meat free for sealing the pinwheel.
- Top the meat with the onion and mushroom mixture.
- Trim or fold in the extra puff pastry on the short sides. Roll up the meat and puff pastry. Seal the pinwheel with the puff pastry that is meat free. To help seal it, use a little water if necessary.
- Make 1-1.5 inch slices creating the individual pinwheels.
- Place the pinwheels on a baking tray sprayed with non-stick spray or lined with baking paper and bake from 30-40 minutes or until the the pastry is golden and the meat is cooked through to a minimal internal temperature of 165F.
I hope you enjoy!
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