BBQ Beef Eye Fillet Stuffed with Olive Tapenade and Pancetta

Absolutely divine tasting eye fillet, cook it on a wood fired BBQ if you can for that extra special wood smoked flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 x whole beef eye fillet
• 250g pancetta
• A roll of natural fibre string for trussing the beef
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

OLIVE TAPENADE

• 1 cup (180g) kalamata olives, pips removed
• 2 tbsp capers
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped
• 3 anchovy fillets
• ½ cup (20g) fresh basil, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh oregano, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, roughly chopped + a few sprigs for the stuffing
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• ¼ cup (60ml) olive oil
• A pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the eye fillet on a large wooden chopping board and trim off any sinew and fat. Cut a slit the length of the fillet, creating an envelope like opening in the beef.

To prepare the tapenade: place a frying pan over a high heat with a splash of olive oil. When hot add the olives and fry for 3 - 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Using a food processer, blend all the ingredients together until lightly combined. Transfer into a small bowl.

To prepare the beef: spread half of the tapenade into the slit in the beef. Lay 6 pieces of the pancetta along the length of the beef.

Wrap the remaining pancetta around the fillet. Cut approximately 6 to 8 lengths of the string and wrap it around the beef to secure the pancetta in place. Liberally drizzle olive oil all over the fillet and season really well with salt and freshly ground pepper. Stuff the sprigs of rosemary under the string.

Heat your BBQ to a high heat then sear the fillet on all sides. Now reduce the heat or move it to the coolest section of the grill. Slow roast the fillet on the BBQ for approximately 25 - 35 minutes (depending on how rare you like your beef), turning it once during the cooking time to ensure the meat cooks evenly.

Remove from the heat and allow the beef to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with the remaining tapenade on the side.