Juicy beef tenderloins, savory mushroom duxelles, salty prosciutto, and crisp pastry summarize what this luxurious, low carb beef wellington is all about.
Beef wellington is my favorite thing to make each year for Christmas. The beef wellington I usually make is basically Gordon Ramsay’s recipe with a few of my own tweaks.
Typical beef wellington calls for puff pastry. Which tastes seriously amazing! However, it is most definitely not Trim Healthy Mama friendly. So I dived in to create a THM friendly version of this beef wellington dish.
I chose to make a pastry that is essentially a fat head bread. If you’re unfamiliar with this, fat head is a bread made using mozzarella as the base. The result is a fatty, delicious, low carb crust.
The beef wellington that came of my work is, according to my husband, just as good as the original Chef Ramsay version…only healthy!
This recipe does take a little extra effort (nothing difficult, just quite a few steps) to prepare, making it great for special occasions. You can make it ahead of time and bake it the day of your special occasion.
Another neat thing about this recipe is that the type of meat you can use is flexible. Use beef tenderloins, filet mignon, elk or deer tenderloins (I often use elk backstraps from an elk my hubby shot for this special dish), or even chicken breasts if you want.
P.S. You can get the spiffy plastic wrap dispenser as illustrated in the recipe here.
Beef Wellington Video
Below is a video that my 11-year-old son did making my beef wellington recipe for his Trim and Tiny Cooking show!
Beef Wellington
Ingredients
For Duxelles
- 16 ounces crimini mushrooms (heads and stems)
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon mineral salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
For Meat
- 24 ounces beef tenderloin (venison or elk backstraps or filet mignon work too), cut into two chunks
- ½ teaspoon mineral salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 10 slices prosciutto ham
- 1 egg yolk
- coarse mineral salt for sprinkling
For Pastry
- 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3 ounces ⅓ fat cream cheese
- 1 cup THM Baking Blend
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon mineral salt
- 1 large egg
Instructions
For Duxelles
- Put all (or some–you may need to do this in batches, depends on the size and power of your food processor) the duxelles ingredients into a food processor. Process until small pieces result. The goal is to achieve a finely chopped texture, not puree the mushrooms.
- Lightly grease a skillet with coconut oil cooking spray. Add the duxelles and sauté until lightly browned and most of the water has evaporated. It should be crumbly and somewhat dry.
For Meat
- Lay a sheet of wide plastic wrap (or two sheets of regular plastic wrap, side by side, overlapping by several inches) on the counter.
- Place 4 or 5 slices of prosciutto, long sides overlapped by ½-inch or so, on the plastic wrap.
- Spread half of the duxelles over the center of the prosciutto
- Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat. Melt the butter then brown just the outside of the meat pieces on all sides, including the top and bottom. Transfer to a plate.
- While the meat is still hot, brush it all over with the dijon mustard.
- Place one piece of meat atop the duxelles, towards one end of the rectangle.
- Roll the whole thing up using the plastic wrap to help you along, but being careful not to roll the plastic wrap into the wellington.
- Twist the ends of the plastic wrap tightly so that the wellington looks shaped like a candy roll.
- Pop in the fridge. Repeat process with the remaining prosciutto, duxelles, meat, and mustard.
For Pastry
- Heat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
- Lightly spray a small saucepan with nonstick coconut oil cooking spray. Heat on medium-low heat. Add the cheese and cream cheese, stirring constantly, until melted, completely blended, and stretchy. Alternatively, you can add the cheese and cream cheese to a glass bowl and microwave it, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until melted, well blended, and stretchy.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together the Baking Blend, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
- Add the powdered mixture to the cheese mixture. Begin stirring it. Add the egg and stir the rest of the way. If you like, once the mixture has cooled enough you can touch it (but still very warm), you can knead it to mix it the rest of the way. A stretchy, smooth, still warm dough should result.
- Lay another wide sheet of plastic wrap onto the counter (or two regular width sheets, overlapped by several inches). To keep it from moving while rolling the dough, you can put a tiny bit of water on the counter first so that it “sticks” to the counter.
- Roll half the pastry dough out onto the plastic wrap until a ¼-inch thick rectangle about 14 inches long by 12 inches wide (give or take–depends on size of meat) results.
- Remove one of the wellingtons from the fridge and carefully remove and discard of its plastic wrap.
- Place the wellington roll towards one of the short ends of the pastry dough and roll up tightly, using the plastic wrap to help (but being careful not to get the plastic wrap rolled into the wellington). Cut off any excess dough as necessary to keep the dough from overlapping much.
- Twist the ends of the plastic wrap so that the wellington, with pastry and all, is pressed into a candy roll shape.
- Pop in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
- Repeat steps 7-10 with the remaining dough and wellington.
- Once both wellingtons have done their final chill, remove and discard the plastic wrap and place the wellingtons on the prepared baking sheet.
- Using the blunt side of a knife, make line indentations of your choosing on the dough (this step is optional but makes it look fancy).
- Brush the pastry with egg yolk. Sprinkle on some coarse mineral salt.
- Pop in the oven and bake for 25 to 45 minutes, give or take, until crust is golden brown and the meat has reached your desired temperature.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Nutrition
Best GF pastry ever!
Than you, Richard!
This makes me so happy! I miss puff pastry and beef wellington. I can’t wait to try this! Thank you. Thank you Thank you!
What exactly is thm baking blend flour?
It’s a blend of gluten free flours. It’s available on the THM website here. 🙂
What is a gluten free alternative to the THM blend? Will Bob’s Red Mill GF baking flour work?
Hi, Gracie. The THM blend is gluten free. 🙂
This! Oh, my! I know my husband will want me to make this. What a yummy tradition for Christmas. Thank you for sharing this with us!
You’re welcome! Let me know how you like it. 🙂