Recipe: Matahambre (Gaucho Style Stuffed, Rolled Flank Steak) for Mar a

Matahambre
Source:Tom Woteki, Oct 2002

Matahambre: Gaucho Style Stuffed, Rolled Flank Steak
This recipe is takes after a traditional Argentine dish called matahambre, a Spanish word that literally means "kill hunger". Basically, a matahambre is a butterflied, rolled and stuffed flank steak. Argentine gauchos are said to pack a matahambre in their saddlebags to eat while out on the trail, so this is picnic or buffet food as well as being a great main course meat dish.

Obtain:
1 flank steak, about 2-1/2 lbs
1/2 cup or so pignolis (pine nuts)
1 fresh fennel bulb
3 large shallots or a small onion
1 large clove garlic
2 fat links of sweet Italian sausage
1 or 2 fat carrots, trimmed and peeled but left whole
1/2 T fennel seeds
marjoram, thyme, salt and pepper for seasoning
EVOO or substitute for saut (oil)

Butterfly the steak: Make an incision along the length of a wide side of the meat. Continue cutting horizontally to the other side leaving just enough uncut meat to form a hinge so that the steak doesn't fall apart when you fold it open. Try to avoid making holes in the two large flaps as you cut but don't fret about this too much.

Chop the vegetables except the carrot(s) and saut until the fennel turns translucent.

Parboil the carrot until just tender.

With a mortar and pestle or equivalent, lightly crush or bruise the fennel seeds.

Toast the pignolis in a small pan over high heat until golden brown.

Unstuff the sausages from their casings and mix in a bowl with all the other ingredients except the carrots. Season with salt and pepper. This is your stuffing for the steak. There is no need to cook the sausage. It will cook when you roast the meat below.

Unfold the flank steak. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Depending on how you seasoned the stuffing mix, sprinkle the meat with thyme and marjoram.

Preheat your oven to 400F.

Spread the stuffing uniformly over the surface of the steak. Lay the carrot(s) across the breadth of the steak so that they will wind up in the center after you roll up the steak.

Roll up the steak into a cylinder long ways. Tie off with kitchen twine along the length of the roll using several butcher's knots to keep it together. Season the outside of the roll with salt and pepper. Brown it well over high heat in a roasting pan.

Turn the oven down to 350F; roast the meat for 45 to 55 minutes. 45 should turn out a pleasantly pink steak.

Remove the meat to a cutting board and let rest until it comes to room temperature or slightly warmer. This dish is great at this serving temperature.

Deglaze the roasting pan first with some red wine then some chicken or veal stock reducing well at each step to make an enriched pan sauce. Spoon the pan sauce over slices of the matahambre and serve.

You can proceed through step 7 for make-ahead purposes.
Serve this dish with some saut ed polenta, a green vegetable and a light red wine for a delicious meal that will impress your friends and make them smile!

A traditional matahambre dresses the interior of the rolled steak with wilted spinach, uses perhaps pistachios instead of pignolis, and, in addition to carrots, is stuffed with a hard boiled egg or two to make a very colorful roll. You can use veal instead of pork, or use both, or use something else. Somewhere along the line raisins probably fit in. Or you could supplement the fennel with colorful bell peppers & add your desired feta or any other cheese of your preference. And so on