This was my second meat to go with the traditional ham this Christmas. Many people said it was the best meat they have ever had and that this Christmas the food was even better than normal. I hate to think how we are going to better this in coming years.
This is very easy, the beef can be wrapped the day before and simply taken out of the fridge, put on a roasting rack, and put into a pre-heated oven.
The prosciutto keeps the meat moist and the pesto layer adds flavour acting as a marinade. With a meat thermometer achieving the correct level of doneness can be quite easy.
With prep done the day before it only takes 1 hour to produce an impressive meal.
beautifully tender beef
Prosciutto Wrapped Beef Fillet
These quantities served 15 adults and 5 children as the second meat for our Christmas meal. I roughly allowed 1 1/2 finger widths per person until the meat got too thin to wrap or manage to not over-cook.
Ingredients
- Fillet of beef – I used 2 pieces weighing 1 1/2kg each, cutting the thin ends off – trying to achieve 2 pieces of approximately the same size, and storing for another meal.
- 1 serve of cashew pesto or 2 packs of any type of commercial or home-made pesto
- 20 slices of prosciutto to cover, have it cut a bit thicker than usual
Method
1. Cut beef fillet to remove thin end and dry with a paper towel.
prosciutto laid out in two rowskok
2. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the bench, lay out prosciutto, alternating ends and overlapping slightly so it is the length of the beef. Depending on the thickness of the beef another row of prosciutto may be necessary. For my pieces I added a lengthwise row.
pesto on meat before wrapping
3. Spread the pesto over the dried meat, place the meat on the centre of the pesto, the smoother side to be placed upwards so the joins will be in the centre bottom and able to be sit evenly when turned over – the join will be on the bottom.
Beef wrapped
4. Wrap the prosciutto fairly tight, wrap the plastic tightly around the beef and place in the fridge to set.
5. When ready to cook, pre-heat the oven to 200C. Place the meat on a roasting rack if cooking in the BBQ or in a baking disk if in the oven. Insert a temperature probe into the thickest part of the meat, set it for beef med rare (or whatever is desired) or simply cook for 45 minutes and hope that it is right.
6. When done remove from the heat, cover with foil and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes.