It is now a wine harvest season and accordingly our 5 Star Makeover group's theme this month is "Cooking with wine". Recently, we have discovered some new Virginia wines that we really loved, particularly the wines from Hillsborough vineyards in Northern Virginia. All of their wines are named after gemstones, and our favorite is the Ruby with 50% Tannat, 30% Fer Servaou, and 20% Petit Verdot grapes. It is a full-bodied red wine that tastes of tart cherries with hints of cocoa.
I decided to use this Virginia wine and a few other local ingredients to create a Virginia-style re-make of a classic Beef Wellington with Bordelaise sauce. I baked Virginia ham steaks in puff pastry, a simple preparation that did not require any other additions as Virginia ham is naturally juicy and flavorful.
The key component of the dish was the Apple and Honey Bordelaise sauce. I melted some butter in a saucepan and sauteed finely chopped apples (from a local Virginia farm) and shallots for about 2 minutes. I added Ruby wine and reduced it by half, then seasoned the base sauce with some salt and pepper, added a sprig of thyme, and reduced the sauce until the liquid was almost gone. Next, I poured the demi-glace in and simmered the sauce for about 5 minutes until it started to thicken. Bringing the sauce to boil, I swirled in butter and a tablespoon of local Virginia clover honey. The resulting sauce featured complex combination of sweet and savory flavors and complimented the Virginia Ham Wellington very nicely.
