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san__gw

timing for a small beef tenderloin and sides...

18 years ago

not sure why but i decided that i really wanted beef wellington for dinner this sunday. it's been a number of years since i made that and even though i knew food prices really have shot up over the last 2 years, i still couldn't believe how much it was gonna cost for this little treat and i certainly don't want to ruin it! i need help please. (i just made a beautiful grilled leg of lamb for the office yesterday, perfectly seasoned and cooked very rare, knowing i'd finish cooking it for a couple of minutes in the microwave so it would be a little warmer than room temp. and nearly ruined it--barely pink when i finished nuking it--GRR!).

anyway, the beef is just over 2 pounds and kind of small. it's supposed to get roasted in the oven for 15 or 20 minutes and then cooled, before you spread on the pate and mushrooms duxelle and wrap it in pastry and roast it all for another period of time. i have 2 instant read thermometers but would rather not pokes holes into the meat 16 times before i'm satisfied that it is the temp we'd like it to be. the tenderloin is 2" thick. so, about how long would you do the intial roasting or, to what temp, before taking it out and letting it cool?

and for the life of me, i can't make a decision on what to serve with it! everything i've thought of so far seems like too much or too little. i have 1 container of our very favorite "spring pea" soup base in the freezer that i could serve as a first course and i will be making a bearnaise sauce to serve over the wellington--both are quite rich. would you just skip the soup and make some sort of a salad instead? frankly, i could easily skip a starch dish but sort of feel as if i should serve one. could do some sort of roasted potatoes, i suppose but that leaves me sort of cold. risotto would be too rich as would be scalloped potatoes... i'm really sort of thinking maybe plain old boiled potatoes with a little bernaise spooned over them or egg noodles with some caraway seed--just can't quite decide. do you have any ideas on the subject? TIA!

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