Demo: Ground Beef Roll with Stuffing

[Zurie]

As tired as I am of doing the same old things with ground beef? Here's an easy new recipe: Ground Beef Roll With Stuffing. After you make the ground beef mixture, here are 9 photos of what to do next: easy and fun!

1. Pat out in a neat rectangle on baking paper. Mine fortunately is marked in blocks, which makes it easy to get a neat shape. The camera makes it look rather square, but it was rectangular!



2. You've wilted the swiss chard in boiling water and drained on kitchen paper. Cut out the thick ribs, and then layer on the meat:



3. Now sprinkle over the cheese (I used 1 1/2 cups mature cheddar, but next time I'll use more -- or I'll try a thick layer of grated or sliced mozzarella):



4. Roll up the meat and filling carefully, using the baking paper to help. (The light was fading and my countertop is dark as well, which was a problem ...)



5. Now cover the roll with streaky bacon. You do need the bacon strips with the fat marbling, to prevent the roll drying out in the oven. The fat gets drained off after baking. The bacon does not go underneath the roll, and is shown tucked in to cover the "seam".



6. The roll is oven ready. I had 1 piece of bacon left over, which I put on the bottom of the oven dish. Note that you actually need a deeper dish than this, to catch the fat and juice: I put a tin underneath in case of spills.



7. The roll is baked for about 1 hr - 1 hr 15 mins. I admit that I forgot the roll in the oven and it baked about 10 minutes too long !! Also, the messy oven dish cannot be helped, sorry -- but the roll was easily removed to a clean dish. At this stage gravy can be made, but the roll should stand a while. Keep warm until serving.



8. It sliced nicely with a serrated knife, and the meat was juicy. Pity about the slight blurring. By this time the light was terrible and I used flash.



9. Plated. I didn't make gravy, but there are leftovers and that will need sauce or gravy. Next time I think more cheese is called for. Or maybe fried mushrooms will be nice in the filling. I've also thought that hardboiled eggs in the centre might work well! A fairly economical dish which cuts to about 8 thick slices.

[duonyte]

I need to remember this - what a great looking dish. I need to wait until there are more than two of us for dinner, though!

[Zurie]

Dear duonyte!! Thanks for replying. I totally detest working with ground beef ... as I think I've said a million times! Had to try something different!

This recipe can be made and then cut into 2, and half frozen. I haven't tried it, but it surely can be done.

My sister, sometimes a far better and more practical cook than I am, prefers a filling of mushrooms.

[duonyte]

My oven went kaplooie, I'm going to see if I can figure this out in a smaller quantity that will fit in the tabletop oven. I think a chard plus mushroom filling would be divine.....

[Zurie]

Whoops, duonyte!! A month later than your post!!

My sister said from the start that she preferred to prepare a mushroom filling for this idea, which she did.

The 2 of us have a hardcover recipe book out (Random House-Struik), called "Roast Duck on Sunday". The title refers back to the wonderful way our mother prepared a large muscovy duck. She always made a delicious stuffing. A male muscovy duck -- ours were our own, and free-range -- is really enormous, not nearly as stingy as an ordinary duck!

I don't think there is a ground beef recipe in that book, as we both hate it!! But tonight, after looking at the price of meats in our local shop, I bought ground meat. The meatballs are in the oven ...

[Red Apple Guy]

I love this!! I'd like to try it sometime!

Red

[Molly53]

I love this, too! Good job, Zurie!

[MrsKette]

This looks divine! It is a bit like a meatloaf I make--and my husband LOVES--with spinach and cheese. I'll try yours for sure, for we both love meatloaf, and will use the bacon. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!