A little while ago I shared with you the recipe of my family equivalent of a Sunday Roast: Falsomagro and I have already talked about how hard it is to reproduce certain dishes when moving from one country to another (or to the other side of the world, like in my case). You can find all the ingredients for the filling here, but the cuts of meat available in Australia are so different to the Italian ones it is not even funny! So, after years of hardship, I finally settled for flank steak… it actually works great for stuffed roasts and the final result is actually better than the original: the meat is so soft and tender that you can literally cut it just with a fork! Today’s recipe is similar to Falsomagro and it is another one of the dishes that my mum would make for Sunday lunch. It is a meat “pocket” filled with breadcrumbs, salami, cheese and lots of delicious roasted capsicums! I love it! And I like the way it looks when cut… orangy and with plenty of stuffing! I served it up with a pumpkin cream, which is a quick twist on normal mash potatoes. The sweetness of pumpkin goes great with capsicum! Enjoy!
Capsicum Stuffed Flank Steak with Pumpkin Cream
The recipe for a delicious Sunday meal: Capsicum stuffed flank steak served with pumpkin cream.
Ingredients
Flank steak
- 600 gms – 1.3 lbs. flank steak
- 2 tbsp exta virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil I use sunflower oil
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sage leaves
- 80 ml – 2.7 oz. white wine
- 1 beef stock cube
- Water & Salt to taste
Filling
- 150 gms – 5.3 oz. capsicum roasted and peeled
- 200 gms – 7 oz. breadcrumbs
- 30 gms – 2 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano thinly grated
- 30 gms – 1 oz. salami chopped
- 45 gms – 1.5 oz. provolone cheese chopped
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp parsley chopped
- Salt & Pepper
Pumpkin Cream
- 500 gms pumpkin
- 160 gms potatoes
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1 tbsp milk
- 1 tbsp butter
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
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Now you can prepare the flank steak. You need to cut a pocket in the thick end of the flank steak using a sharp knife. Try to go as far in as you can, so you don’t end up with an unstuffed end piece. Do this very carefully, trying not to tear the meat (or cut your hands!).
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Stuff your flank steak with this filling and close it with toothpicks (or with a butcher needle if you have one).
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Now using some butchers’ string, tie the flank steak by knotting the string tightly at one end and wrapping it tightly all around the meat. Make a knot at the other end to secure the string.
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Put some vegetable oil in a frying pan and let it heat. When hot, put in the stuffed flank steak and fry it on all sides.
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In the meantime, prepare a pot with 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, sage, bay leaves and rosemary leaves. Let it heat on a low flame and after 2 minutes add the seared flank steak in. Pour the white wine on it and, after the alcohol has burnt off, add the beef stock cube and some water.
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Cover and let it cook on a slow fire for about 1 hour. Add some more water (and salt) if required during cooking. When cooked, let it cool down, remove the string and then cut it in thick slices (around 1.5 cm – 0.6 inches).
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Serve warm with the pumpkin cream.
I can imagine how sweet and tasty that filling is going to be once I get around to making the dish! I grew up with something like this in N Europe but, methinks the filling was mostly onion and breadcrumbs 🙂 ! Like the idea of pumpkin cream on the side in its pepper flower!!
This looks like an extra special dish and such a nice surprise when you cut into the meat.
Manu, another geat looking and tasting dish, a source recipe that I’ll be able to use as a meat-based second course, maybe even as a fancy starter. The rosetta wants to me to grab a fork and knife in a split second… but I will have to wait until the 2013 “quaresima” period is over… Cheers