Hairy Bikers Beef Olives

These Hairy Bikers beef olives roll thin slices of mustard-spread topside around a bacon and sausage meat stuffing, then braise them in red wine. And the Mums Still Know Best recipe makes 8 rolls for 4 in about 2¾ hours, at roughly 700 calories a portion by my estimate.

Two for the price of one is how Si and Dave see it, calling it “a bit of steak with a meatloaf filling”. And the stuffing really is a proper mix of bacon, onion, sausage meat, breadcrumbs, herbs and lemon zest, so it eats like a little meatloaf.

The beef gets beaten under cling film to roughly the thickness of a £2 coin, and I find that thinness helps it roll neatly. Then tie each end loosely, because they warn that string pulled too tight makes the filling bulge out as it cooks.

Hairy Bikers Beef Olives

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Braising Cuisine:British Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 55 minutesCook time:1 hour 50 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time:2 hours 45 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:700 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Bacon and onion are softened and cooled, then mixed into sausage meat with breadcrumbs, herbs and lemon zest for the filling. Then the rolled, floured olives are browned in batches and braised under a lid with red wine, stock and tomato purée.

Ingredients

For the stuffing

• 2½ tbsp sunflower oil, used in three stages
• 4 rindless smoked streaky bacon rashers, chopped fairly small
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 250g sausage meat or minced pork
• 25g fresh white breadcrumbs
• ½ tsp dried mixed herbs
• finely grated zest of ½ lemon

For the beef

• 4 x 150g slices of topside beef
• 4 tsp prepared English mustard
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 15g butter
• kitchen string
• sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

For the gravy

• 1 medium onion, finely sliced
• 200ml red wine
• 300ml beef stock (made with 1 beef stock cube)
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions

1. Soften the bacon and onion: Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and gently fry the chopped onion and bacon until the onion is soft. Then tip into a bowl and leave to cool for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Flatten the beef: Cover a slice of beef with cling film and beat it with a rolling pin to roughly the thickness of a £2 coin. Then cut it in half widthways and spread thinly with mustard, repeating with the rest, and preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas 3.
3. Stuff and roll: Mix the cooled onion and bacon with the sausage meat, breadcrumbs, herbs and lemon zest, and season well. Then spread it over the 8 pieces of beef, roll each up from the narrow end and tie both ends with string, not too tightly.
4. Brown the rolls: Season the flour with salt and pepper and roll the beef olives in it until lightly coated. Then melt the butter with 1 tablespoon of oil over a medium heat and brown the olives 4 at a time. And move each batch to a flameproof casserole as soon as it’s browned.
5. Make the gravy: Fry the sliced onion in the rest of the oil until soft and lightly browned, then tip it into the casserole. Next bubble the wine in the pan for a few seconds to lift the sediment. Then add it to the casserole with the stock, tomato purée and bay leaf, and bring to a simmer.
6. Braise: Cover and cook in the centre of the oven for about 1½ hours, turning the olives halfway. Once the beef is tender and the sauce thick and glossy, serve with potatoes and green vegetables.

FAQs

How long do you cook beef olives in the oven?

Theirs go in covered at 160°C/Gas 3 for about 1½ hours, turned in the sauce halfway through. But there’s no fan setting given, so I’d use 140°C fan, the figure on their British Classics braising steak recipe at the same temperature.

And they’re ready when the beef is tender and the sauce is thick and glossy, rather than at an exact minute.

How do you cook beef olives in gravy?

The gravy starts in the browning pan with sliced onion, then 200ml of red wine to lift the sediment, plus stock, tomato purée and bay. And the only thickener is the seasoned flour coating the rolls.

It’s the same red wine braising idea as their Meat Feasts beef stifado, though that uses big chunks of chuck steak instead of rolls.

Are beef olives meant to be pink?

Not these, because 1½ hours of braising cooks the topside right through until it’s tender. Plus the filling is sausage meat or pork mince, which needs cooking through anyway, so I’d check the middle of one roll before serving.

What do you serve with beef olives?

They keep it simple with potatoes and green vegetables. For a richer potato, their Meat Feasts dauphinoise potatoes is a good match, though it needs its own oven at 180°C.

How do you make Scottish beef olives?

They suggest replacing some of the beef and breadcrumbs with oatmeal, which is a little puzzling since this stuffing has no beef in it. But they give no quantities, so I’d swap some of the breadcrumbs for oatmeal, though I haven’t tested how much works.