beef wellington. ba dum, CHHHH.

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there was a point of no return, sometime around the era that our summer CSA produce baskets began, when we became mildly obsessed with cooking shows. Iron Chef America, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, Chopped, Food Network Star, etc. etc. etc. and one fateful evening, we were watching the show most guaranteed to make you feel like an inept loser (MasterChef Junior, where the ten-year-olds make better sushi than I can), when the bar was set for our next culinary challenge.  the kids made Beef Wellington. 
photo credit Fox.com/masterchef-junior


since that time, we've honed our cooking chops, and essentially everyone except me has been slowly transforming into homesteaders with homemade mozzarella and ricotta cheese, ginger bug, beer, bourbon vanilla, kefir, hot sauce, and various pickled vegetables. (i've been a little more focused on babies.) and finally, a few weeks ago, we decided it was time to attempt the holy grail. armed with an amalgam of recipes from Alton Brown and Gordon Ramsay, we gave it our best shot. 

fresh from the oven ... at 10:30 PM ... and worth the wait. 



 we rounded out our gustatory masterpiece with roasted veggies and red velvet cupcakes with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. and probably should have washed it all down with 80 mg of Lipitor and an insulin drip. it's definitely a special occasion dish... or, as we decided, a dish that warrants its own occasion. 

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