Beef Roulades with Walnut Parsley Pesto

The addition of the pesto, with the walnuts and, makes this dish satisfyingly rich without being heavy. Traditionally served with hollandaise, we prefer a squeeze of lemon on the roulade right at the table.

Making these roulades isn’t hard, but it requires a little dexterity to secure the roulade with the kitchen twine. Once the roulade is tied, however, it’s pretty sturdy.

Don’t skimp on the tenderizing process at the beginning of this recipe. Flank steak can be very chewy, so you will want to pound it well, and a meat mallet’s tenderizing side is a good finishing step. If you don’t have a meat mallet, use the point of a sharp knife to pierce the meat all over.

Ingredients

Pesto:

1 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup shelled walnuts, about 1 3/4 ounces

1/4 cup grated parmesan or pecorino cheese

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons virgin olive oil

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Flank steak roulade:

1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds flank steak

Salt and black pepper

Lemon wedges to serve

instructions

Make the pesto

Put the parsley, garlic, salt, olive oil and walnuts into a food processor. Pulse to combine. Turn the machine on again and slowly pour in the olive oil, just to combine. Reserve.

Pound the meat thin

Place heavy duty plastic wrap (or two layers 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 side of a meat mallet or an empty wine bottle, pound the flank steak until it is 1/2 inch thick or thinner. Flip the meat from time to time to pound everything evenly.

Once the meat is as thin as you want it, if you have a meat mallet with a tenderizing side (the pointy side), remove the plastic wrap and pound this on both sides for a minute or two. If you don’t have a meat mallet, you can skip this step.

Find the grain of the steak Look at your steak. You will be rolling it up with the grain of the meat facing side to side. You do this because when you slice it later, the beef will be more tender when you cut across the grain.

Arrange the meat until the grain faces side to side, and if it is not squarish or rectangular, cut it to fit. Sprinkle on some salt and black pepper.

Layer with pesto 

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Carefully roll the roulade up tightly, as you would a carpet. If you want, cut off any bacon that is extending beyond the steak.

Tie off the meat with 6 to 8 lengths of string, each about an inch or so apart.

Sear the tied roulade in the pan with the bacon fat. You want to quickly brown the surface, not cook the inside of the roulade.

Roast

Put the roulade in a roasting pan on a rack, seam side down. If you don’t have a rack, improvise with celery stalks. Roast this for 20-25 minutes, or until the interior of the meat is 130°F when tested with a meat thermometer.

(Note that the ends of the roulade will be far 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.

Slice the roulade so each serving is wrapped in string. You can either let everyone cut their own string at the table, or cut it yourself and secure the roulades with toothpicks if you want. Serve with lemon wedges to add a little tartness to the dish.
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