Bife à Rolê (Brazilian Beef Rolls in Tomato Sauce)

• 1 kg thin-cut beef steaks (coxão duro, coxão mole or patinho — round), excess fat trimmed
• 6 large garlic cloves (4 for the meat, 2 for the sauce)
• 1 level tbsp salt for the meat, plus 1½ tsp for the sauce
• black pepper to taste
• 1 onion (½ in thick slices for the filling, ½ finely chopped for the sauce)
• 7 green beans, ends trimmed and halved
• 1½ carrots (1 cut into sticks for the filling, ½ chopped for the sauce)
• 1¼ green capsicums (bell peppers), cut into strips (the ¼ chopped for the sauce)
• 100 g sliced bacon
• about 3 tbsp olive oil (a drizzle for each batch of rolls, a little more for the sauce)
• 1 tsp colorau (annatto powder)
• 100 ml dry red wine (optional)
• ¼ cup chopped leek
• 1 dedo-de-moça red chilli, seeded and finely sliced
• 1 tomato, chopped (skin and seeds on)
• 100 ml tomato sauce (molho de tomate)
• 200 ml water
• 1 level tsp smoked paprika
• ½ cup chopped parsley (salsinha), with some stalks
• ½ cup chopped spring onions (cebolinha), white and green parts
• 10 olives, pitted

Method

The cook speaks Portuguese; every step is written here in English. Tap a time to watch that step in the video. For subtitles, tap CC in the video, then Settings › Subtitles › Auto-translate › English.

1. Trim the excess fat from the steaks and pound the thicker parts thin with a mallet (halve very large ones). Crush 4 large garlic cloves with 1 level tbsp salt and pepper and rub the paste into both sides of every steak. 0:36
2. Prepare the filling: thick onion slices, green beans halved, carrot and green capsicum cut into sticks about 1 cm wide, and the bacon. 2:42
3. Lay bacon on each steak (stopping a little short of the edge), then onion, capsicum, carrot and a green bean. Roll up tightly and pin closed with a toothpick. She gets 14 rolls. 4:07
4. For the sauce, finely chop the leftover onion, carrot and capsicum, plus the leek, tomato, seeded chilli, parsley, spring onions and pitted olives. 5:46
5. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a pressure cooker and sear the rolls on all sides over high heat in two batches of 7. Set aside. 7:49
6. Add a little more oil, fry 2 crushed garlic cloves and 1 tsp colorau, then the chopped onion until soft. Pour in 100 ml red wine to lift the browned bits and let the alcohol cook off. 9:14
7. Add the carrot, chilli, leek, capsicum and tomato and cook semi-covered until soft. Stir in 100 ml tomato sauce, 200 ml water, smoked paprika, 1½ tsp salt, half the parsley and the white part of the spring onions. 10:07
8. Return the rolls and juices, close and cook 25 minutes after the valve starts whistling. Let the pressure drop on its own, then simmer uncovered with the olives for 10 minutes. Finish with the rest of the parsley and spring onions. 11:21

Tip. Makes 14 rolls — serves 7 (our estimate: 2 rolls each). Remove the toothpicks before eating. Usually served with rice; a green salad keeps it lower in carbs. The cook's salt is generous — use less if you prefer.

The method is a summary in our words — the video shows every step.