Wellington Prank fresh from oven.

Photos by ©2014 Deborah Kaplan

Beef Wellington consists of a beef tenderloin roasted to a rare temperature ahead of time. Painted with Dijon mustard and coated with liver pate. Then wrapped in a flaky pastry crust, which has holes poked in the dough to vent the steam. The crust is painted with an egg wash which is then baked until the tenderloin becomes mid rare and the crust puffs up and turns a golden brown. That describes the beef Wellington that I made to celebrate my in-laws anniversary, in a December, some 20 years ago. That beef Wellington came out perfect. My in-laws went home and raved about it to DH’s sister, who had to work that night. His sister’s birthday is in March, so DH and I decided to make another Beef Wellington for her too and he told his Mom that we were going to do just that. Except we decided to stuff that one with meatloaf. No one else knew about the meatloaf, so when I brought the Wellington out to the table, everyone was anticipating another beef tenderloin. DH and I had a lot of trouble keeping our faces straight! I wound up grinning from ear to ear! Everyone thought it was because I was so proud of another beautiful and successful beef Wellington. We let DH’s sister do the honors by cutting the Wellington, as after all it was her birthday! Her face was priceless with surprise! She was very lucky that there wasn’t the social media available then, like there is today! The meatloaf was delicious too! Of course for our anniversary that same year, she served DH and I raw fish heads on a plate with gummy worms sticking out of the fish mouths. Frankly, I thought our prank was much better than her’s. Below are the directions for my meatloaf recipe wrapped in an easy pastry crust to perfectly prank your guests into thinking you splurged by making them a Beef Wellington! Enjoy!

Wellington Prank sliced.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds tri-meat (veal, pork, beef)
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (seasoned)
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup Caesar salad dressing
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 cup Caesar salad dressing
• 1 eight ounce crescent roll dough
• 1 egg (for egg wash)

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix together, ground meat, panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup Caesar dressing, and mozzarella cheese.
2. Pre-heat Oven to 350 degree F.
3. Lightly whisk egg and mix it with the meat mixture.
4. Use cooking spray to lightly coat a 9″x 12″ baking dish.
5. Place meat mixture in the dish in a mound shape, with space totally clear around mound (Not touching walls).
6. Use 1/4 cup of Caesar salad dressing, and slather the mound with it covering the whole thing except bottom.
7. Wait for oven to come up to temperature, then bake it for 1 hour (or desired temp).
8. Remove meatloaf from oven but not from baking dish.
9. Drain fat from baking dish.
10. Open crescent roll mix (the brand I bought, the dough is perforated into triangle shapes.
11. Take each section of the dough and place them on the meatloaf mound until covered in one layer (reserving 1 or 2 triangles).
12. Take second egg and whisk it until uniform color.
13. Paint entire dough on the Wellington with egg wash.
14. Roll out with rolling-pin and use cookie cutter (I used a K) to cut dough into desired shapes. Place them as decoration on top of painted dough.
15. Paint decoration dough with egg wash too.
16. With a knife, poke about 10 holes in the dough to allow the steam to vent.
17. Bake the Wellington Prank for 20 minutes.
18. Enjoy the moment when you present your creation to your guests!

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Servings: 6-8