Flank steak mashed and stuffed with pesto, wrapped in bacon, rolled into a roulade or pinwheel and roasted.
Roulades, pinwheels, whatever you call them, this is a classic party dish.
When I was a boy, my mom made these for our Christmas Eve smorgasbord, where they took their place alongside Swedish meatballs and huge plates of cold cuts, cheese, pickles and whatnot.
No pesto was used in Mama’s version. Their filling consisted only of parsley and garlic salt. But with those two ingredients already in the mix, it’s just one step away from making a wholesome pesto—especially the classic winter pesto made with parsley and walnuts.
This isn’t Mom’s exact recipe, but it comes close: Super tender meat, smoky, fatty bacon, and an intense dash of parsley in the center. Although I last ate this parsley almost 30 years ago, I can still remember this parsley. It was so “grown up” when I was a kid.
My addition of pesto with walnuts and cheese makes my version as rich as Mama’s, only without the hollandaise. I like a squeeze of lemon on the roulade right at the table.
The preparation of these roulades is not difficult, but it requires a little skill to fix the roulade with the kitchen twine. However, once the roulade is tied, it will be quite firm.
Don’t skimp on tenderizing at the start of this recipe. Flank steak can be very tough, so be sure to pound it well, and the tender side of a meat tenderizer is a good final step. If you don’t have a meat mallet, use the tip of a sharp knife to prick the meat all over.
Beef roulades with walnut parsley pesto
You can use prosciutto in place of the bacon (doesn’t need to be cooked, it’s already cured) or leave it all out and just roll up with your pesto of choice.
ingredients
- Pesto:
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1 cup chopped parsley
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1/2 cup shelled walnuts, about 1 3/4 ounces
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1/4 cup grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
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2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
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1/4 teaspoon salt
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1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Flank steak roulade:
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1/2 pound thinly sliced bacon
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1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds flank steak
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salt and black pepper
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Lemon wedges for serving
special equipment
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food processor
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butcher cord
method
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Make the pesto:
Place the parsley, cheese, garlic, salt and walnuts in a food processor. impulse to combine. Turn the machine back on and slowly pour in the olive oil, just to mix. Reservations.
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Cook bacon:
in a large skillet – you’ll be searing the roulade in this later, so it needs to be wide – over medium-low heat until about half-done. You want it cooked but still limp. Don’t crunch it or it will break when you try to wrap it in the roulade. When the bacon is done, set it aside on kitchen paper.
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Pound the meat thin:
Place heavy-duty plastic wrap (or two sheets of plastic wrap) on a large work surface and place the flank steak on it. Cover with more plastic wrap.
Using a rubber mallet, the flat of a meat mallet, or an empty wine bottle, pound the flank steak until it is 1/2 inch thick or thinner. Turn the meat from time to time to pound everything evenly.
Once the meat is as thin as you like, remove the plastic wrap if you have a meat mallet with a tenderizing side (the pointed side) and pound on both sides for a minute or two. If you don’t have a meat tenderizer, you can skip this step.
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Find the grain of the steak:
Look at your steak. You roll it up so that the grain of the meat shows side to side. You do this because if you cut across the grain, the beef will be more tender when you cut it later.
Arrange the meat until the grain is next to each other, and if it’s not square or rectangular, trim to fit. Sprinkle with some salt and black pepper.
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Layer with pesto and bacon:
Spread a thin layer of pesto over the meat, leaving about 1/2 inch exposed on all sides of the meat. lay down bacon across the beef fiber. Preheat oven to 350°F.
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Carefully roll up the roulade tightly:
like a carpet. If you want, trim off the bacon that is sticking out over the steak.
Tie off the meat with 6 to 8 strings, each about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart.
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Fry the bound roulade:
in the pan with the bacon fat. You want to quickly brown the surface, not the inside of the roulade.
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Roast meat:
Place the roulade, seam side down, in a roasting pan on a wire rack. If you don’t have a rack, improvise with celery sticks. Roast this for 20-25 minutes or until the inside of the meat is 130°F when testing with a meat thermometer.
(Note that the ends of the roulade are much hotter than the center – so always test the temperature from the center of the roulade.)
Remove the meat from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
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Cut roulade:
So each portion is wrapped in twine. You can either let everyone at the table cut their own string, or you can cut your own and secure the roulades with toothpicks however you like. Serve with lemon wedges to add a bit of acidity to the dish.
