By John Kirkendall
With daffodils, tulips and violets already in bloom, it’s time to consider entertaining friends who have been hibernating — or just away for awhile —during the colder months.
A classic beef entrée is Beef Wellington.
The recipe I have in mind is Beef Wellington with a twist — and is it delicious!
It packs into individual servings and utilizes a wild mushroom duxelles topping — as interesting as it is delicious.
What about Quinoa?
When was the last time you served that.
This one is topped with ribbons of poached leeks.
And the simple small peas are microwaved for 3 minutes with some butter, salt and minted water. That’s all there is to it.
To do this you will need one-inch thick slices of beef tenderloin, one per person.
This part of the dinner can be prepared a day ahead. Simply spray a heavy fry pan with vegetable spray and heat the pan over medium high flame until very hot.
Place lightly seasoned beef in pan, and cook for only three minutes (important—time this carefully) turning once.
Place on a plate and allow to completely cool. When cool, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Save the juices that accumulate on the plate. There will be a tablespoon, more or less.
Next, prepare the quinoa.
This, too, can be prepared in advance, cooled, and wrapped and refrigerated the day before.
Quinoa:
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced shallots
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chicken or vegetable stock, divided
6 ounces quinoa
Pinch salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped chives
Accumulated juices from the beef
Combine the garlic, shallots, and thyme with 2 ounces of the stock and cook over medium-high heat until sauce is reduced and the shallots are almost translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the quinoa, the remaining stock, meat juices, salt, pepper and bay leaf and bring to a boil.
Cover, reduce heat to low and cook until all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 25 minutes.
Add the sherry vinegar, parsley and chives and stir until thoroughly combined.
Remove bay leaf. Cool completely, cover and refrigerate.
Yield: 1 quart, about 4 servings.
Duxelles (Duke sell) makes a classic topping for the beef.
You will be rewarded by the oo’s and ahh’s of your guests.
And it is simple, if somewhat time consuming, to do.
You will need a sauté pan, some olive oil, shallots and a collection of mushrooms.
This can also be done a day in advance and tightly covered, once cool.
Put 1 Tablespoon olive oil, 2 shallots, chopped, 2 teaspoons garlic, minced; 1 pound mixed wild mushrooms, finely chopped; 1 sprig fresh thyme and 1 Tablespoon lemon juice in a sauté pan over medium low heat.
This will take about half an hour, stirring occasionally.
It will be dark and almost paste like when you are finished.
Season with sea salt and ground pepper.
Remove the thyme sprig.
For the poached leaks to top the quinoa, simply cut a cleaned and washed white part of a leek into ribbons and drop them into stock and poach for 45 minutes until very tender.
A good stock to use is vegetable stock with dry white wine and some coriander seeds — roughly 2 cups of stock, ? cup of wine and a tablespoon of coriander seeds.
The minted peas could not be simpler.
Place frozen baby peas in microwavable bowl, add sea salt and a chunk of butter and pour over ? cup of water that has been boiled with a bunch of mint leaves and stalks and strained.
Top with plastic wrap and microwave for 3 minutes just before serving.
This can be microwaved at the same time as the quinoa.
This way they will both be steaming when you serve.
The quinoa is already cooked and this step simply warms it.
To review, you have minted peas and quinoa at the ready, beef tenderloin in the fridge and poached leeks on the counter at room temperature (they will be served at room temperature.)
Be sure to thaw a package of phyllo dough in the fridge the night before your dinner.
On the evening of your dinner, everything will go into place smoothly.
Simply have your beef out and at room temperature. Take 8 phyllo leaves, spraying each one as you go with vegetable spray — I like to use butter-flavored Mazola.
Once you have the leaves stacked together, cut them in half and place a slice of beef tenderloin on each half.
Top the beef with a good scoop of duxelles and spread it over the top.
Enclose the beef by picking up each corner of the phyllo and pressing it lightly on top of the beef to seal.
Repeat with the other two slices of beef.
Spray the outside of the phyllo package and place on a tray into a 425 degree oven for exactly 9 minutes.
Remove and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
During that time, microwave the peas and quinoa.
Plate the dinner, topping the quinoa with ribbons of poached leek.
Now is this downtown or what.
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Judge John Kirkendall is a retired Washtenaw County Probate judge. He serves on the Elder Law Advisory Board of the Stetson University College of Law.
He has taught cooking classes for more than 25 years at various cooking schools in the Ann Arbor area and has himself attended classes at Cordon Bleu and La Varenne in Paris, as well as schools in New York, New Orleans and San Francisco. He is past president of the National College of Probate Judges.
