Recipe Category: Main Courses
Beef Roulade with Red Pesto and Wilted Greens
This striking beef roulade is surprisingly easy to make once you learn how to open out the beef fillet, and it cooks in around half an hour making entertaining a breeze!
Serves: | 6 |
Preparation Time: | 20 minutes |
Cooking time: | 30 minutes |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 200g rocket or baby spinach leaves, washed
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1kg piece beef fillet (centre cut), trimmed
- 3 tablespoons red pesto
- 8 golden shallots (eshallots), peeled and halved
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup water
- 100g butter, cubed
Method
Heat oil in a large frypan and sauté garlic until softened. Add rocket and cook, stirring, until wilted. Drain rocket in a colander, squeezing out excess moisture and allow to cool. Season to taste. To flatten out beef fillet, make a deep 1 cm wide cut lengthwise along one side of the meat to within 1cm of the base, ensuring not to cut all the way through. Rotate the meat as you continue to cut in the same way until you have a flat rectangular piece of meat. Spread with 2 tablespoons tomato pesto and top with spinach. Roll up into a roulade and secure with skewers or truss with string. Spread all over with remaining pesto. Place in a roasting dish, arrange shallots around the meat and drizzle with oil and season. Roast at 200°C for 25 minutes for medium or until cooked to your liking. Allow meat to rest covered in foil for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare sauce by heating roasting pan with shallots on stove top and deglazing with balsamic vinegar. Add water, and any juices from the meat, simmer until reduced by half and, off heat, whisk in butter to form a smooth, thin sauce. Carve meat and serve drizzled with sauce and roasted shallots.
Accompaniments: Serve with scalloped potatoes and steamed vegetables.
Tips
If red pesto is not available, substitute with 100g sundried tomatoes in oil blended to a paste.
Roulade may be assembled and kept at room temperature up to 2 hours before cooking.
Recipe Type: Celebration, Entertaining, Roast
Author: | Naomi Crisante |
Date Created: | 05/06/2009 |