Beef olives will exceed your expectations: think sliced tender beef wrapped around a buttery breadcrumb and bacon stuffing, doused in a robust gravy.
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Melt the butter in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and shallot and cook, stirring, for 5 mins or until the bacon is crisp. Add the garlic, mushroom and rosemary and cook, stirring, for 3-4 mins or until the mushroom is tender. Stir in the breadcrumbs and cook for 1 min or until well combined. Season. Transfer to a bowl. Set aside for 5 mins to cool.
Arrange the beef steaks on a clean work surface. Divide the mushroom mixture evenly among the steaks, spooning it in a row across one short end of each piece of steak. Fold end over and roll steaks up to enclose the filling. Secure with toothpicks.
Add the oil to the pan and place over high heat. Cook the beef rolls, turning, for 3-4 mins or until brown all over. Transfer to a warm plate.
Add the wine or beef stock to the pan and cook, stirring, for 3-4 mins or until the sauce reduces slightly. Add the gravy and bring to the boil. Add the beef rolls and cook, turning beef rolls occasionally, for 2-3 mins for medium or until cooked to your liking.
Serve beef olives with mashed potato, green beans and sauce. Drizzle with a little olive oil if desired.
COOK. STORE. SAVE.
Use it up: While you can certainly serve steamed green beans with your beef olives, you can also use any leftover bacon and butter to pack them with flavour, like in this buttery green beans with bacon and almonds recipe.
The name of this dish may be confusing – are we talking about a type of beef or a type of olive? What it actually refers to is a traditional recipe from Britain that has been around from the Middle Ages, and its name attempts to describe the dish’s preparation method as opposed to its ingredients. The term ‘olive’ means that the recipe consists of thin slices of meat wrapped around a stuffing (like a parcel) that is then cooked in a rich brown sauce. As such, there are no olives in beef olives! It is usually eaten with bread so you can mop up all of that thick delicious sauce, because once you’ve tasted it, you’re going to do all you can to make sure not a drop goes to waste! In this beef olive recipe, the stuffing is made from smokey, fatty bacon and breadcrumbs – what could get better than that?
Here is how to successfully cook beef olives:
The best cuts of beef to choose are beef minute steak, beef topside steak, thinly cut rump steak or sizzle steak. Sizzle steak is also known as thinly sliced round steak.
If steak is thicker than 5mm, tenderise the beef using a meat mallet, season with salt, and cut into similar sizes before using to wrap the breadcrumb stuffing.
Brown the wrapped beef parcels first before adding them to the wine or beef stock and gravy, to get as much flavour as possible and to lock in the juiciness of the beef.
You can also choose rehydrated porcini or shiitake mushrooms if you want an extra punchy umami flavour.
If you would like to make your beef olives in advance, go ahead and wrap the beef around the stuffing, line them up in an airtight container, and store in the fridge for up to 1 day. When you’re ready to eat, take the beef olives out to let it come to room temperature, then cook according to steps 3 to 5 in the recipe method.
You can serve this comforting dish with some sides for a cosy meal. It’s best to pair it with side dishes that will soak up that rich, velvety gravy, like creamy mashed potato or parsnip, thick slices of soft baguette, pasta, rice or even couscous. To cut through the rich meatiness of the dish, why not serve some pickled onions, beetroot or gherkins in your cutest ceramic bowls. And don’t forget some good quality butter to spread generously on the bread. Beef olives can also be a great canape to serve your guests if you’re planning to entertain – it’s a dinner party meal with a ‘wow’ factor or a dish you can proudly take to your next potluck with friends.
If you’re scratching your head for a meal that will make people feel like they’re dining at a nice restaurant, these luscious beef olives are just the thing to cook! Like the idea of wrapping ingredients to create something elaborate and tasty? Check out the following recipes for bacon-wrapped beef with garlic mushrooms, bacon-wrapped beef sausages with tomato salsa, prosciutto-wrapped salmon with wedges and green olive stuffed chicken with cauliflower puree.