Servings: 6 Prep: 30 mins Cook: 30 min Total: 60 mins
This is probably the most advanced recipe on my website, so far. It’s got 3 different components (the beef, the sauce and the filling) and requires a variety of interesting techniques, from butterflying and pounding the steak, to making a “duxelles” and finally, thickening and fortifying the sauce with a little butter!
In the end, the flavors are incredible, deep and rich. The presentation is outstanding. Serve this for any gathering and you’ll have a hit on your hands!
Butterfly Video: One of the trickiest aspects to this is the butterflying of the flank steak. This woman does a quick job of butterflying a flank steak.
Tying a Roast Video: Here’s a great video that shows how to tie a roast. Many people tie it in sections, but this is the method I use. I rarely do the underside, as I don’t think it’s necessary, but it’s nice to see how it’s done. This method uses a long single string and allows you to tighten and adjust the twine, as you go.
Buerre Monté Video: This video shows how a sauce is thickened with butter. In the video, she does it with only water! In my recipe, the gravy is a reduced beef stock, with tomatoes, which is thickened with butter, at the end. YUM!
Finally,the definition of “Duxelles”: Duxelles is a finely chopped (minced) mixture of mushrooms or mushroom stems, onions, shallots and herbs sautéed in butter, and reduced to a paste (sometimes cream is used, as well). It is a basic preparation used in stuffings and sauces (notably, beef Wellington) or as a garnish. Duxelles can also be filled into a pocket of raw pastry and baked as a savory tart (similar to a hand-held pie). More … >
The duxelles I’m using has the addition of carrots and celery, at the last minute. This gives a little sweetness, color and texture.
I have to say, I love that this way of eating allows for these big, beefy and buttery dishes! No more skinless chicken breasts and whole wheat pastas for me! 🙂
Flank Steak Roll with Mushrooms and Tomato Gravy
Print RateIngredients
Mushroom Duxelles
- 1 lb cremini or button mushrooms washed
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup sweet red onion very fine dice
- 4 each garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp fresh thyme chopped
- 1/4 cup red wine good quality
- 1 each celery rib cut into small cubes
- 1 small carrot peeleed and cut into small cubes
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Flank Steak
- 1 3/4 lb flank steak
- 2 tbsp light oil (for sautéing ... such as coconut olive or ghee)
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Tomato Gravy
- 1/4 cup red wine good quality
- 3/4 cup beef stock or broth (natural and unsalted)
- 2 medium tomatoes diced
- 1/4 cup fresh whole butter cut into cubes
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- First, you want to start the mushrooms. Finely chop the mushrooms, until they are very finely diced. This can also be done in a food processor. It's not uncommon for me to use a cheese grater for mushrooms, also. The idea is to get the mushrooms very very small, but not a puree.
- In a pan over medium heat, melt your butter. Add your garlic and onions. Sweat them until they are aromatic and starting to become translucent. About 2 or 3 minutes.
- Add the chopped mushrooms to the pan. Add a flavorful amount of salt and pepper to this mixture. Also add your fresh thyme.
- Cook the mushrooms for about 5 minutes, or until all the water begins to release from the mushrooms. The mixture will become almost "soupy". At this point, add your red wine.
- Continue to cook the mushrooms, until they are almost a paste. At this point, add your celery and carrots. Season with a bit more salt and pepper; cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove the mushrooms and set aside.
- Butterfly the flank steak by slicing it in half, width wise. In my case, I cut the final sheet into half and made two smaller roasts. You can make one large or one small roast. Both start with a full or have sheet of flank steak.
- Place a piece of plastic wrap over your flank steak and pound it to be more even and a nice rectangular shape.
- Season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Spread your mushroom paste evenly over the entire flank steak, leaving a short gap on one side, where the flap will form a seal after it's been rolled.
- Starting on the side opposite the flap, roll the flank steak like a cinnamon roll. Keep it tight, as you roll it.
- With butcher's twine, tie the flank into a nice and tight roast. Set aside.
- Pre-heat oven to 425 F.
- Pre-heat a large oven proof sauté pan over medium-high heat.
- Season the outside of the flank rolls.
- Add oil to the pan and swirl it around the pan. When the oil begins to ripple, add your flank to the pan and sear the outside. When one part has a nice golden sear, roll the flank to sear a new section. Continue rolling the flank around the pan until the majority of the surface area has a nice sear.
- Place the entire pan in the oven and close the door. Roast for about 15 to 35 minutes, depending on the roast(s), thicknesses, etc.
- When the flank registers a temperature of 120 F, with a thermometer in the thickest part of the roast, remove the flank from the oven. Remove the flank from the pan and put on another plate or pan in a warm spot, cover it with foil and allow it to rest.
- Place the newly empty hot pan over high heat on the stove. "Deglaze" the pan, by pouring your red wine into the bottom of the pan. This will pick up the little bits of flavor from the bottom of the pan that have been left behind by the flank steak. Swirl this around, and even poke at the crusty stuff in the bottom with a wooden spoon.
- When the wine has about half evaporated, add your beef stock.
- When the beef stock has about half evaporated, add your cut tomatoes. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
- When the tomatoes have begun to break down, but still look like tomatoes (about 5 minutes), remove the pan from the heat and whisk in your cold butter, one cube at a time.
- Slice your flank steak and serve with the tomato gravy! YUM!
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
This looks like an excellent recipe. Being of German descent, I love Rouladen which is basically quite similar. It is a beef roll with mustard, onion and dill pickle or rather, a gherkin rolled up inside; browned, simmered with a sauce, usually a chunky tomato type. I love it. I am used to pounding the steak. I haven’t tried flank steak. I will give this a try!
Hi DJ.
The link for butterflying takes me to the wrong place. Will you check it?
Thank you, Ouida! I changed the link. That’s the problem with linking to other places … they may change their structure. It’s unfortunate, in that the video I replaced it with isn’t as good. The previous video went into detail, whereas this one just briefly shows the technique. Oh well … Linda, if you make this … let me know how it turns out!