If you know Beef Wellington, you are probably thinking how tedious and difficult to make it, right? I tell you that not all Wellington are created equal, at least my version. The traditional version is the Beef Wellington which involves wrapping a chunk of seared beef in parma ham, with a layer of mushroom paste and final wrap of puff pastry. Just thinking of those layers made me want to have it now. I would agree that it takes a little bit more effort to prepare it as compared to regular dish. I believe this is why it’s considered as a special dish when you order it a the restaurant, and not all restaurant offer it. Most of the time restaurant will have it under dinner menu, and it could get quite pricey. But worry no more because you can make it in the comfort of your own home, and that I will share in a separate post. For now, I am going to share something more simple and easy to make, a Meatballs Wellington.

Whether you are planning for especial occasion, Valentine’s Day perhaps? But then again, you don’t need an especial occasion to make this meatballs Wellington, it is so easy that you can make it part of your regular meal. 

Make Ahead makes life easier

The beauty of this Meatballs Wellington is that it can be made in bulk and ahead of time. This is great for freezing, and you don’t even need to thaw it when you are ready bake it. Just take it out of the freezer pop it in a preheated 425F oven then sit and relax. This is a very convenient and fancy way to impress your family and friends, not to mention it taste good. Just pair it with a good homemade Rosemary Dinner Rolls and a side of Mexican Salad and you have a complete meal. There’s no need to rush and be stress of the idea of planning a meal ever again. Just make this Wellington ahead Of time and keep it in the freezer. Instant meal when you need it. Here is a breakdown of how you can split the preparation.

Make the Meatballs:  I have a recipe for Homemade Meatballs that I used to make this Meatballs Wellington. You can make the meatballs few days ahead, pre-bake it about 20 minutes 350F then freeze it for later use. The good thing about this meatballs is that you can use it in several ways, like for pasta, for salad and even for making Shashuka. So if you get this out-of-the-way already, making Meatballs Wellington is already half done.

Make the Mushroom Paste: Traditional Wellington uses mushroom paste, but you can skip it if you don’t want to make it. But if you want to include it, you can make it ahead of time as well, maybe 1-2 days before and keep it refrigerated until ready to use.

Assembly: Assemble the Meatballs Wellington, layer it and wrap it, then freeze it. You can have this three main parts done separately to save time and lessen the stress of preparing everything in one day. It’s totally doable in one day if that is your preference, just factor out the time needed to make the meatballs and mushroom paste which is the bulk of the work, and making the puff pastry if you are using homemade. I personally like to use store-bought for this because it’s already rolled out and ready to use makes life easier.

Single Serve

I always like the idea of single serve meal or dessert. Portion control, no left over and I feel that I appreciate every single bite of it. Since its single serve, bake only the number of pieces that you need, probably 1 or 3 more extra on the side for second takers. Single serve dish also gave me opportunity to make variations in the dishes that I serve without having to make people feel overwhelmed with the foods in front of them. For me, a little variations of many things is better than 1 or 2 huge serving of few dishes.

What kind of puff pastry to buy?

 There’s no shame in using a readily available puff pastry, you got to do what you got to do, so go grab them. There are 2 types that I normally saw in the grocery. 

• There’s one that are cut into 2 thick square. This type of puff pastry will require you to roll and flatten it into about 1/8 inch thickness. It’s not difficult to do that, but that still adds time when you are in a hurry. Also, you have to target of at least having an even surface. I box contains 2 cut puff pastry. 
• Then there’s my favorite type, the flat puff. They normally comes in 2 pieces per box, and all you have to do is thaw it a little bit in the fridge , unroll and cut them to size and shape you like. The thickness is even, so it’s you are assured that they will bake at the same time. The little time you save will make a huge difference when your tight on schedule. That will give you some time to clean up and relax before the party starts. 

So those are you’re 2 options, if you are not considering on making your own puff pastry. You can choose which one is available in your grocery. But definitely go for the 2nd one if they have it. 

Planning ahead 

The key to making a Wellington less stressful is planning ahead. Whether you are making the traditional Beef Wellington, Chicken Wellington or the simplified Salmon Wellington to this Meatballs Wellington, planning ahead takes out the stress in preparing it. Depending on what variation you are making, plan how you want to tackle it. For example, I you like to use mushroom paste you can make it a day before, so the following day all you need to do is to assemble the entire thing. Then you can wrap each piece individually then freeze it for use later. On the day that you want to serve it, bake it at least 1 hour before the meal to give it enough to time to cook and rest before serving.  Let me show you how I made it. Let’s get started!