Beef Olives (13th March'09)

I am always interested in discovering and trying recipes especially if they are traditional British dishes and I have seen versions of this recipe in various old-fashioned cookbooks, although it seems to have been forgotten about, I definitely don´t ever recall eating this in my family or anywhere else. I stumbled across the following version of this recipe in Mrs Manders Cookbook, which I borrowed from the library. My curiousity was aroused and I just had to try out the recipe and was definitely worth it. This is probably one of the more complicated dishes I´ve tried to cook although it is actually quite simple. The trickiest part is tying up the meat so the stuffing doesn´t ooze out as I´ve never done it before. Don´t think I did such a good job of it as the filling did start to ooze out a little but as they say practice makes perfect!

Here´s my tweaked and updated version of Mrs Manders´ recipe:

Ingredients (for 2 people) (all teaspoon/tablespoon/cup measurements use American measurements)

2 sandwich steaks or beef rump (I´m not sure I bought the correct cut of meat as was a little tough)

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 small button mushrooms, finely chopped

1/4 tsp dried parsley

1/4-1/2 tsp grated lemon rind (I just guessed!)

1/2 of a 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs

1 cup of minced pork or ham (you can use less if you want as I was just using up what was leftover)

1/4 tsp dried oregano or thyme

salt & pepper

1/2 of beaten egg

2 tbsp butter

1 cup (240ml) of stock (I used Bisto gravy granules)

1/2 cup (120ml) white wine

1/2 tbsp plain flour

Method

1. Mix onion and mushroom with pork, parsley, lemon rind, oregano and breadcrumbs.Season with salt and pepper and add egg.

2.Place mixture in beef slices and roll up, tie with cooking twine to secure the sides and prevent filling from leaking out.

3. Preheat oven to 350º F(180ºC)

4. Melt 1 tbsp butter in casserole and brown beef rolls.

5.Add stock and wine,cover and cook in the oven for 30-45 mins.

6.Remove beef rolls, cut twine and keep warm. Meanwhile, make gravy by melting 1tbsp butter in a pan, add the flour till thickens and add sauces and juices from the casserole dish, stir until bubbling.

7. Serve beef rolls warm with gravy and your choice of vegetables and potatoes.

As you can see, I served my with roast potatoes but unfortunately they didn´t crisp up as much as I´d have liked!