Beef Tenderloin Pesto Roulade

Another recipe I learned from a cooking class, credit to Jim/Barb Pappas for teaching me this one.

End result is a moist, tasty and visually attractive piece of beef. Given the richness of the meat and filling you should expect people to eat 1/2 to 2/3 of what they might usually eat when beef is served.

Pesto Filling

Yield: Enough for an average tenderloin.

Keeps in the fridge if you want to make it ahead of time.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Fresh Basil Leaves
• 1/2 Cup Pine Nuts
• 3+ Cloves of Garlic (More if you're like me)
• 1/3 Cup Olive Oil
• 1 Cup of Parmesan Cheese (Grated)

Method

• Process your pine nuts, basil and garlic together in a food processor.

• Slowly add your olive oil.

• Pulse in the parmesan cheese.

Tenderloin

Start by preheating to 375F

Ingredients

• Beef Tenderloin: For this example I used two 7lb Tenderloins to feed 12 people (2 kids, 2 seniors) YMMV.
• Black Pepper
• Kosher Salt

Method

• Start by slicing your tenderloin into 3 or 4 pieces to be more manageable.

• Butterfly the pieces until more or less flat, then use a tenderizer to get them a bit flatter, you want them to be rollable.

• Salt and Pepper the interior lightly.

• Spread the Pesto evenly over the meat

• Roll into a sort of Jelly Roll Shape (not so tight as to squeeze all the pesto out the sides.

• Tie the meat closed with a few loops of string

• Roast at 375 until done. Smaller pieces will roast faster. The pan you see here was done in around an hour (depending on piece.)

• Slice across the roles revealing the wonder tasty pesto sprial inside.

• Serve and bask in the compliments.

(Note the meat should not be as grey looking as in these final pictures, it certainly wasn't in person, you should have a hint of pink throughout.)