Beef Rotolo

This rolled beef dish is easy enough to serve for a mid-week meal and pretty enough to present at a dinner party. Steak is rolled with pesto and steamed in the Varoma over stock, which is then the base for a mustard sauce. Cling wrap keeps the beef rotolo neat and trim, but a toothpick does a good job, too, as you’ll see in this video.

If preparing ahead, the beef can be filled and rolled in the morning and steamed in the evening. Roast capsicum and olives are also lovely rolled inside the beef.

Okay… I know what you’re thinking! Steamed meat? Really? But yes, it’s a great technique that locks in flavour and moisture.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY VARIATION

I love serving this dish for ‘Christmas in July’ and substituting turkey breast for the beef steak. Flatten the turkey as you would the beef, and then you have the choice of trimming as you would for this recipe, or making a larger roll with the complete breast. A larger roll will take longer to cook: at step 9, cook for 15 min/Varoma/speed 2. At step 10, when you check the potatoes, poke a skewer into the turkey too. If the juices run clear, you’re good to go. If they don’t, continue to cook for a further 5 min/Varoma/speed 2. A large turkey roll can be carved at the table, sort of like a Christmas turkey but really easy!

My other Christmas in July go-to dishes are Mulled Wine, Aligot and Pavlova. Yes, any time of year is good for pav!

Serves: 4-6 as a main
Time: 1 hour

Method

Pesto
1. Place 1 garlic clove and the parmesan into mixing bowl and chop for 8 sec/speed 8.

2. Add basil, pine nuts, olive oil and a pinch of salt flakes. Blend for 5 sec/speed 5. Scrape down and mix for 10 sec/speed 4.

3. Add more olive oil, and mix again on speed 4, if a runnier consistency is preferred. Set pesto aside.

Beef Rotolo
4. Soak the currants in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain. Place the pine nuts into mixing bowl and toast for 5 min/100°C/speed 1, or in a dry pan, until lightly golden. Set aside.

5. Place the remaining garlic clove and shallot or onion into mixing bowl and chop for 2 sec/speed 5.

6. Scrape down and add half of the butter. Sauté for 2 min/100°C/speed 1.

7. Add the beef stock to the mixing bowl, place potatoes into the Varoma dish and set into position. Cook for 25 min/Varoma/speed 2.

8. Trim fat from the steaks and pound to about 5mm thick; either use a meat mallet or place the steak between two layers of cling wrap and pound with a rolling pin. Season steaks with salt flakes and black pepper. Spread one side of the steak with pesto and sprinkle with the currants and pine nuts, leaving a 1cm perimeter around the edge. Roll steaks and secure with a toothpick. Alternatively, roll steaks inside large sheets of cling wrap to make firm sausage shapes, and tie cling wrap at both ends.

9. Place on Varoma tray (or, if cooking later, set aside in the refrigerator). Place Varoma tray with beef in place above potatoes and cook for 3 min/Varoma/speed 2.

10. Add the broccolini and cook for a further 5 min/Varoma/speed 2. When time has elapsed, check if potatoes are cooked. If they are, set beef, potatoes and broccolini aside to keep warm. If potatoes need more time, set beef and broccolini aside and cook potatoes for another 5 min/Varoma/speed 2. Remove Varoma once potatoes are cooked.

11. Add plain flour, remaining butter, port or red wine and the grain and Dijon mustards to the beef stock remaining in the mixing bowl. Cook for 4 min/100°C/speed 4/MC off, with the simmering basket resting on the mixing bowl lid, or until sauce has thickened. Adjust seasoning.

12. Remove cling wrap or toothpick from beef. If desired, brown the beef rolls in a little oil in a frypan over moderate heat. Slice each roll into 3 to 5 pieces.

Serve with potatoes, broccolini, mustard sauce, and red chilli slices, if desired.

Love this style of cooking with the Varoma? It’s a great technique that locks in flavour and moisture. Also try Inside-out Chicken Parmigiana – it’s impressive but easy, with classic pub flavours and a little extra pizzazz. Or my mouthwatering Pineapple-spiked Vietnamese Lamb Salad is a real crowd pleaser.

Want another delicious meat main course (grilled this time)? Try Jesse McTavish’s Lamb Cutlets with Salsa Verde & Lovage Oil. Wondering what to serve this Beef Rotolo with? Strawberry Gazpacho makes a great starter, and you could follow with a dessert version of Black Rice Pudding.

Want to learn all about the perfect cut of beef? Check out my Beef Banter with Butcher Gary McBean. And while we’re on the subject of beef take a look at some of my favourite beef dishes.

A bit of back story about this video

In some ways, this Beef Rotolo underpins the whole Dani Valent Cooking website. It’s from my second cookbook, In the Mix 2: More Great Thermomix Recipes, and it was part of my cooking class program around Australia, New Zealand, Dubai and South Africa. Every time, people arrived sceptical (steamed meat? ugh. too fancy! looks hard…) but after the class almost everyone was keen to go home and try it.

I just love helping people along that journey from ‘nah’ to ‘yeah!’ Cooking classes are fabulous fun but you always know that you’re not reaching everyone who might like to see it. That’s when I started to think that video might be a good idea… And that’s why I built Dani Valent Cooking.

Like my shirt? Me too! It’s by S.Wallis.