When I was a boy, my mum used to make these for our Christmas Eve smorgasbord, where they took their place alongside Swedish meatballs and huge plates of cold cuts, cheeses, pickles and such. Some years she’d serve them with Hollandaise sauce, which made them very, very rich even for a little kid. Mum’s version didn’t use pesto. Her filling was just parsley and garlic salt. But with those two ingredients already in the mix, it’s only a step away from a full-fledged pesto—especially the classic winter pesto of parsley and walnuts. This is not mum’s exact recipe, but it comes close: Super tender meat, smoky, fatty bacon and an intense hit of parsley in the center. Even though I last ate these close to 30 years ago, I can still remember that parsley. It was so “adult” when I was a kid. My addition of the pesto, with the walnuts and cheese, makes my version as rich as mum’s, only without the Hollandaise. I do like a squeeze of lemon on the roulade right at the table. Making these roulades isn’t hard, but it requires a little dexterity to secure the roulade with the kitchen twine. Once the roulade is tied, however, it’s pretty sturdy. Don’t skimp on the tenderizing process at the beginning of this recipe. Flank steak can be very chewy, so you will want to pound it well, and a meat mallet’s tenderizing side is a good finishing step. If you don’t have a meat mallet, use the point of a sharp knife to pierce the meat all over. Using a rubber mallet, the flat side of a meat mallet or an empty wine bottle, pound the flank steak until it is 1/2 inch thick or thinner. Flip the meat from time to time to pound everything evenly. Once the meat is as thin as you want it, if you have a meat mallet with a tenderizing side (the pointy side), remove the plastic wrap and pound this on both sides for a minute or two. If you don’t have a meat mallet, you can skip this step. Arrange the meat until the grain faces side to side, and if it is not squarish or rectangular, cut it to fit. Sprinkle on some salt and black pepper. Tie off the meat with 6 to 8 lengths of string, each about an inch or so apart. (Note that the ends of the roulade will be far hotter than the center — so always test the temperature from the center of the roulade.) Remove the meat from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
