This hors d’oeuvres has all the flavors of classic beef wellington without dealing with puff pastry wrapped, roasted logs of meat and slicing and soggy bottoms and….

ANYWAY… :-)

Think delicious seared filet mignon, earthy mushroom and shallot “pesto”, spicy dijon mustard, and delicate buttery crust reimagined as a 1-2 bite appetizer that is comforting, filling but not heavy, great at room temperature, and never gossips.

If you are wooing a 1950's ad executive, or if you ARE a 1950’s ad executive, make this for your next cocktail party!

There are three parts to this recipe, but they are all easy to prepare and assemble:

1-the tartlet shells,

2-the mushroom duxelles, and

3-the beef.

You will need a mini muffin pan but otherwise, basic kitchen equipment can handle the rest.

The Tartlet Shells

Start by making an all butter pie crust, roll it out to 1/8” (3-4mm) thick and cut out small rings, about 1 1/2”-2' (3.75-5cm) wide and chill them well. A good tip here is to cut in the butter a little more than you would for a pie crust. Large pieces of butter in these small shells will be a liability when blind baking.

Use the mini muffin pan to mold and form the tartlet cups. There’s no way to explain this perfectly, you just have to get in there and do it. You will get better as you go along. Using your thumb or the handle of a wooden spoon, push the chilled disc of dough into the muffin mold very slowly and evenly, pushing in and down from the center first and then the outer edges as the dough starts to slide down the sides of the mold, try to keep the pressure even as you work it all to the bottom. Once there, press the dough into the corners and even everything out to the eye, leaving a small cup with a 1/2” (1.25cm) rim all the way around. If the dough tears when you are working it into the mold remember, it is dough. You probably played with play-dough as a kid: you can handle this. Just patch it up and make it look like it is supposed to look and it will be fine. Dock the shells with a fork or toothpick and chill the dough while the oven pre-heats to 375F.

The shells need to chill for 20-30 minutes before baking, so unless you have a few mini muffin pans brace yourself, this can get tedious and slow. If you have to do it in batches, go ahead and cut out the circles of dough and keep them refrigerated until their number is up for the oven. As long as you keep the dough cold you can re-roll it twice, but re-roll the scraps between two pieces of parchment paper so you can avoid adding more flour.

For blind baking the shells, you can make small balls of aluminum foil and place them in the shells to hold them in place while they bake off. You can also use some paper mini muffin liners filled with beans. Set up a landing area for the tartlet shells to cool. Depending on how many you are making, a tea towel or two, somewhere out of the way should do it.

Bake off the tartlet shells in a 375F oven until the edges of the dough are golden, 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the aluminum balls, or beans. Cook 6-8 minutes longer if the center of the shell bottoms are not dry and lightly browned. Once properly browned, remove from pan and allow to cool in the landing area.Cool the mini muffin pan(s) between batches.  Mold, dock and chill each batch before blind baking. The goal, for this and for most doughs, is always to keep the dough as cold as possible until you put it in the oven. Don’t try to mold your shells in a warm pan.

The Duxelles

Duxelles is a French preparation made of shallots, mushrooms, finely chopped, usually with thyme, salt & pepper, and cooked in butter in a 4:2:1 ratio (mushrooms:shallots:butter) until a paste forms. This is as straightforward as it sounds. Cook all the ingredients together on medium to med-high till most of the water is gone (mushrooms AND shallots have a TON of water in them!). Feel free to deglaze with the barrel aged liquor of your choice, but if you do, reduce that to almost dry as well. Add dijon mustard in around 1/2 the amount that was used of butter, and more to taste. Taste the final mix and adjust seasoning. You can make this up to three days ahead or at the same time you are baking off your shells and set it aside to cool completely.

The Beef

I recommend filet mignon because it is classic and because you want a tender and lean cut, but there’s no need to buy a whole tenderloin for this h’d. You will only need a thin slice (1/8’, 3-4mm thick at most) for each tartlet, so talk to your butcher. Butchers are an awesome secret weapon, know way more than the average carnivore about meat and can usually get you what you need even if it’s not in the display case. Did I mention they practice a dying art?

…MEANWHILE…

When you settle on how much you need and get it all back home, dry the meat well with paper towels and sprinkle generously all over with salt and pepper. Heat a pan to screaming and add a tablespoon of high heat oil or grill-strength nonstick spray and move it around. Sear the meat on all sides and both ends until every surface is roasty and brown. Pay attention here, even though there is not a lot of difference between brown and black visually, there is a HUGE difference on your palate. It should only take 2-3 minutes on each side and will take longer as you get closer to the end and the pan starts to cool slightly. You want the beef to end up being a beautiful red/pink medium rare to medium in the center.

Remove from the heat and let the meat, tent with foil, and rest for a minimum of 10 minutes. Reserve any juices and work them into the duxelles or final assembly. After searing, if you want it more “done”, tent it with foil and roast it slowly in a low oven, around 300F / 150C, until it almost reaches the desired temperature. Remove it and let carryover heat continue to cook the meat during the resting period for a few more minutes to get the temp where you want it.

After cooling mostly, slice the filet fairly thinly, between 1/16”-1/8”. This is a quality point for an appetizer like this. If you slice the meat too thickly it won’t tear when bitten and if the guest wants to take two bites it will be a mess after they go for that first bite. A thinner slice will be easier to tear without adding a lot of extra pressure that could shatter the tartlet shell and ruin everything. (just kidding)

Final Assembly

For the assembly you will need all three completed and cooled components. Place 1-1.5 teaspoons of duxelles/mustard paste in the bottom of the tartlet shell.Place a delicately furled piece of filet onto the duxelles and press gently to stabilize the meat.Garnish the whole serving dish, once filled with tartlets, with a nice sprinkle of chopped green parsley or micro greens if you are fancy like that.Present these on a platter alone or in paper mini muffin liners. Just press them into the cupcake liners. They will be a bit large for the cups, but they should fit. These are so good. So satisfying. And very easy to accomplish.

Try them and let me know what you think!