I have recently discovered the joys of rolling meat with various ingredients to create a culinary delight that is relatively simple. I say “relatively” because, while this website is called “Dad’s Simple Recipes”, this one has some steps that to a novice might take some practice to master. But once one does, they will forever view a hunk of meat as a wonder of savory possibilities!
This recipe takes a roast beef and converts it into delicious pinwheels stuffed with spinach, roasted red peppers (pimentos) and shaved parmesan cheese. But the reality is that you can experiment with many other ingredients too. Try a different kind of cheese, like goat cheese. Maybe swap out the roasted red peppers for some sautéed mushrooms and onions. But start with this recipe I’ve provided here to get a feel for the process, and then branch out with other ingredients.
Tools
You are going to need a meat tenderizing mallet to pound the meat into thin sheets. I have this one that I really like. It is worth the money to get stainless steel. Aluminum ones end up leaving a powdery aluminum residue on the food. I don’t think they are supposed to go in the dishwasher. The wood ones are not very sanitary and can’t be placed in the dishwasher.
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb Roast Beef or Rump Roast
- 1 bag of fresh baby spinach rinsed and blotted dry
- ~ 1/2 cup of shaved Parmesan cheese
- ~ 10 oz jar of whole roast red peppers (pimentos)
- 1-2 Tbsp dried thyme (to taste)
- 2 tsp salt (to taste)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper (to taste)
- 4 cloves of garlic mashed.
Directions
- Place wrapped roast in the freezer for 30 minutes to stiffen it for cutting.
- With a sharp chef’s knife cut the roast across the grain approximately 1/4″ thick to create slaps.
- Using the pointy side of the meat mallet, pound the meat out on a cutting board until it is thin. Then use the smooth side to pound it out a bit more until flat.
- Lay a large sheet or two of plastic wrap on the cutting board. You will assemble the pinwheel on top of that.
- Starting at one end lay each piece of meat across the cutting board on top of the plastic wrap. Be sure to overlap the meat about 1-1/2 inch or so.
- Rub mashed garlic across the surface of the meat.
- Sprinkle dried thyme, salt, and black pepper across the surface of the meat.
- Place a layer of spinach on the meat.
- Place a layer of roasted red peppers on the spinach.
- Sprinkle shaved Parmesan cheese on the roasted red peppers.
- Starting on one end, roll up the meat as tightly as possible, gently removing the plastic wrap as you roll so that it doesn’t get rolled up with the meat (…cause that wouldn’t taste very good 🙄).
- Once completely rolled up, take the remaining plastic wrap to wrap around the rolled meat and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to stiffen.
- Cut cooking string in lengths of approximately 18 inches and lay across the cutting board or counter surface in rows about 1-1/2 inches apart.
- Remove the rolled meat from plastic wrap and lay on top of the strings.
- Wrap the strings around the meat and tie them tightly without cutting the meat.
- Cut the meat with a sharp knife in between each string to create a pinwheel. Lay on a plate.
- To cook, you can BBQ or fry in a pan for a 3 minutes on each side until the meat is cooked to your liking.
