Feast Cookalong: Beef stuffed with capsicum and blue cheese

I’m kicking off with Maria-Elena Lorenzin’s matambre – the beef stuffed with onions, capsicum and blue cheese she cooked for her Argentinian family barbecue.

The first thing I did once I’d decided to cook this dish was raid my sewing cabinet for a large needle – once it’s stuffed, the flank gets sewn up to keep all the goodies inside. Armed with that and cooking string, I was ready to go. I had the butcher cut the steak open for me (hey, he offered!), but it looked pretty easy and I would be happy to do it myself. Once I’d stuffed the steak I got stitching, managing to resist the urge to do any kind of fancy threadwork (although a blanket stitch would have been a nice touch). I don’t have an authentic wood-fired Argentinian parilla at home (more’s the pity), so had to make do with a standard covered barbecue – I seared the beef on both sides and then turned the heat down, shut the lid and let it cook for about 30 minutes.

The result? The family loved it – the meat was cooked perfectly and the flavours of the stuffing melded together beautifully. The onions and capsicum were soft and sweet and there was just enough blue cheese to give it a bit of tang. We ate it with a simple salad for an easy Sunday night meal.

I’m looking forward to reading about and seeing your results – post them before August 14 as I’ll be cooking something else from Issue 1 then.

Happy cooking, eating and sharing!

Editor, Feast