Beef Olives with Asparagus and Vine Tomatoes

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Beef olives, never liked them – couldn’t understand them, after all there isn’t an olive in sight!. What I didn’t realize was I just needed to approach them in a different way. Here I have taken the raw ingredients and developed them around flavors I really like and how I like my meat cooked along with some seasonal veges. This is a great bistro dish and so easy to prepare.  A modern taken on a very kiwi-traditional meal. I hope you enjoy it as much as me.

Prep Time: 10 Mins

Cook time: 30 Mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

4 beef schnitzels (cut in half)
1 bunch of asparagus
1 medium brown onion – diced
1 bunch of tomatoes on the vine
1 garlic clove – crushed
1 tbsp fresh rosemary – picked & finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley – finely chopped
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 cup mozzarella – grated
¼ tsp nutmeg – ground
Olive oil for frying
250 ml beef or chicken stock
1 tsp fresh rosemary – chopped finely

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 160.

TOMATOES: Drizzle some olive oil on a baking sheet and place your tomatoes on the oil.  Season with plenty of salt and freshly grated pepper and place in the oven.  Cook for 20 minutes, until the skin is blistered and the tomatoes begin to collapse.

OLIVES: In a large frying pan, heat some oil and fry your onions and garlic until the onions are translucent and fragrant.  Allow to cool. Combine your cooked onions, rosemary and parsley, breadcrumbs, mozzarella and nutmeg. Lay your schnitzels on a board and take a little of your stuffing mixture, place at the far end of your beef and roll up and secure with a cocktail stick.  Repeat with all your meat until you have 8 fat olives.  Cook in a large frying pan, 4 at a time, under a medium heat until they are golden and brown and you can see the mozzarella oozing out of the edges.  Place in a heat proof dish and pop in the oven to keep warm.

In the same frying pan, add the stock and turn up the heat, cook for about 5 minutes, until the stock is thick and bubbling, sprinkle in the extra rosemary.  Remove your olives from the oven and place back in the sauce with any juices.  Spoon the sauce over your tasty little packages and cook for a further 5 minutes.  Remove cocktail sticks before serving.

ASPARAGUS : Steam in a little salted water until tender.

TO SERVE:  Place asparagus on your plate with tomatoes, top with 2 beef olives and drizzle with sauce.