Wrappin' it up!

When I was young I use to take a slice of bread and smash it really flat then wrap other foods up in it.  As I got older I discovered things like pigs in a blanket, pop tarts, pot pies, corn dogs, calzones and many more wonderful food that were all wrapped in pastry or dough.  I was much older when I discovered that I could make pigs in a blanket sound really sophisticated by using the term en croute and that my dears is all she wrote.

If it were up to me, everything would be en croute!  I want to live in an en croute world, where you look out at the horizon and the land falls before you all golden and flaky.  Wow, sorry about that.  Since I really can't live in an en croute world, I got the next best thing...I hosted a Daring Kitchen Challenge and guess what I chose?!

VIVA EN CROUTE!!

                           Beef                        Mushroom              Saucisson

I went first for the beef wellington because it terrified me and that has always been a reason for me to do things.  I remembered having a wellie at a restaurant in San Francisco and it was the most delicious thing I had ever had; perfectly done beef tenderloin wrapped in pate and mushrooms then in crepes and finally in that golden and flaky puff pastry perfection.  This was an old school wellie that used the crepes as a way to soak up some of the beef juices to keep the pastry from becoming soggy and gummy.

The end product was so good that I wished I could eat more but alas, my belly was full....till the next recipe that is!

A stuffed portabello mushroom wrapped in puff pastry!  Ahh, I really do feel like I am waiting in line for the coolest roller coaster ever, the excitement and anticipation is killing me!

Spinach, herbs, and I am a slave to brie so......

Again, I can't express how much I love anything en croute and this mushroom almost put the wellington to shame.  It was tender, juicy and the cheese gave it a rich and creamy texture.  With all of this en crouting, my son wanted to get involved so I challenged him to find something that he could wrap in pastry and then would actually eat.

There were the requisite 8 year old suggestions of cake, cookies, ice cream, gummies and then he finally was struck with the sausage idea.  Sausage it was!  He had a ton of fun with it and that is the most important thing.

So all in all I think we had a good time and learned a little something.  I even saw a sunset the same golden color as a lovely flaky pastry wrap, so I guess I kind of got what I wished for.  Thanks to Lis for letting me host this month, it really was a blast AND I have so many new ideas for en croute!

Be sure to check out what all the other amazing cooks are wrapping up by visiting the Daring Kitchen!

Our lovely Monkey Queen of Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, was our May Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to dive into the world of en Croute! We were encouraged to make Beef Wellington, Stuffed Mushroom en Croute and to bring our kids into the challenge by encouraging them to create their own en Croute recipes!


Did you have a good time? Did you enjoy this post? Let me know and leave a comment. Share the post with your family and friends on your favorite social media or subscribe with an email address and help other people to discover Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, that will help our little blog grow and our monkeys can keep doing what they do best - FLY. Thank you for all of your support. The Monkey Queen