It’s been a while since I posted up a recipe. I realised I’ve never posted this up and after having it sunday night I figured it was a worthwhile post.
First off, let me just state one thing here. Beef Olives have nothing to do with Olives! Everyone I’ve spoken to about them assumes this. I don’t know why they’re called ‘Olives’ but they just are! This is a great recipe for Sunday dinner, especially in the winter, but to be honest is wasn’t too heavy for a slightly warm (lukewarm I’d say!) evening such as last sunday night.
You need:
1 thin slice of steak per person, ideally rump or sirloin – ask your Butcher for thin steaks for Beef Olives, they should know what you mean 
Sausagemeat or 1 sausage with the skin removed per person/steak
Beef Oxo Cube dissolved in 3/4 pint of boiling water (about 450ml of water)
Gravy Powder such as Sainsburys own
Cornflower for thickening
Cocktail sticks or cooking string to hold the ‘olives’ together
Method:
Take each steak, cut off any excess fat around the edge. If it’s not very thin then give it a bash with a meat mallet. Lay the steak out flat and spread a thin layer of sausagemeat over the steak. Then roll the steak up from one end to the other, creating a small cylindrical shape. Use a couple of cocktail sticks (or some string ideal for cooking with) and use these to hold the olive in place so that it doesn’t unroll. Do this with all the olives.
Heat a frying pan, add a little oil or butter, and add each olive, one at a time, and quickly seal the olive on all sides. Then put into a pyrex dish. Once all of these have been sealed, pour the stock over the olives, cover and cook in an oven at 160 deg C for 90 minutes. After 90 minutes, make up a little paste with a couple of teaspoons of gravy powder and a teaspoon of Cornflower. Once this is dissolved, mix a little of the hot stock from the Olives dish and then pour it all back in the dish. Cover and cook for a further 30 minutes (same temperature).
Serve with mashed potato and vegetables.
Note, you can also use bread stuffing, such as what you would use with Chicken, if you wanted to. In fact that usually helps to thicken the gravy and you may not need the cornflower, however sausagemeat gives a richer taste.
Really would be nice to have a print recipe button
Hi thanks for the recipe, I knew it was a basic meal to make but just needed reassurance as in how to do it and for the length of time to cook it. I used square sausage as I had no links, but they were fantastic.
Having beef olives tonight but could not lay hands on the recipe book I’d used last time we had them. All I could find was the Glasgow Cookery Book from the Dough School that told me to simmer forever.
Nipping through to kitchen to transfer from saucepan to casserole dish and oven.
Thank you.
Have tried various chefs and butchers to find out why beef olives are so called, but to no avail, however I have tried Haggis instead of sausage meat in the middle of the beef olive and it gives a lovely spicy taste to the meat. Try it.
Gordon…the beef olive is simply named so because it resembles a stuffed olive. That’s all.
Beef olives with sausage meat? Sacrilege!! They should be filled with mealie.
Whatever taste you prefer. I first had it with sage and onion stuffing, I tried sausagemeat when I first made them and like them with both, however sausagemeat gives it more taste I think. Each to their own.
What a grand recipe, easy to follow instructions, painless to create not to mention extremely scrumptious, everyone liked it, thx lots.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for this receipe. Its nice and simple to make and doesnt require dozens of ingredients like some of the receipies I have looked at. They are quick and simple and taste delicious.
One additional thing I tried is after frying the olives using the same pan fry an onion, I used a red onion, fry for 10 minutes until golden and caramalised then add these to the roasting dish with the stock. It added a bit of extra somethng.
I think this will become a family staple thanks
You’re welcome Niamh! A comment on this post always reminds me that I should cook them again for dinner one day soon