Beef Pinwheels with Caramelized Onions
These beef pinwheels are amazing! Adding the caramelized onions seasoned with Latin spices make these extra delicious and very impressive. I promise they will be a huge hit! They are very easy to prepare and also prep ahead.
Can I grill these beef pinwheels?
I chose to use a grill pan but you can absolutely grill yours if you’d like. In this case, you can brush the pinwheels with olive oil that has the melted butter in it. You may lose some of the cheese as it melts onto the grill. This is one the reasons why I like to use my grill pan. I love how the melted cheese hangs on to the steak and gets caramelized.
How do I butterfly a flank steak?
Lay the steak on a cutting board. Slice horizontally across the steak to butterfly. Pound the steak to make it thinner if desired. I like mine thick so I normally don’t pound it.
How do I know if my beef pinwheel is cooked through?
I recommend using a thermometer to determine the doneness of the meat. Cooking times vary stove to stove, pan to pan and grill to grill. I prefer mine on the rare side so I normally give it a nice sear on the outside and make sure I see the cheese is just starting to melt and that gives me an indication that it is mostly rare in the middle.
Here is your temperature guide.
Note: After resting the meat for 5 minutes, the temperature will go up about another 5 degrees from what is listed below to a perfect temperatture.
Rare: 120º F degrees
Medium Rare: 130º F degrees
Medium: 140º F degrees
Medium Well: 145º F degrees
Well Done: 155º F degrees
Recommended sides:
Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
Dominican White Rice and Beans
Latin Bean Vegetable Rice
Beef Pinwheels with Caramelized Onions
Equipment
- Twine
Ingredients
- 2 large yellow onions Chopped or sliced
- 5 tbs olive oil divided
- 1 tsp adobo
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 2 – 3 lbs flank steak
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 8 slices provolone cheese approximately
- 1 tbsp butter
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- red pepper flakes to taste
Instructions
Caramelize the onions
- In a large skillet, over medium high heat, heat 2 tbs olive oil.
- Add the onions and stir.
- Immediately add adobo and oregano. Continue to cook until onions caramelize according to taste. I prefer mine lightly golden.
- Once onions are done, set aside.
Butterfly the flank steak
- Lay the steak flast on a cutting board.
- Pound the steak to make it thinner if desired. I like mine thick so I normally don't pound it.
- Cut/slice horizontally into it from top to bottom, keeping the knife level with the cutting board. Keep your guide hand flat on top of the steak to hold the steak in place.
- Fold the top half back as you go. Work your way slowly so as not to poke a hole in the steak. Continue cutting until the steak opens up flat but be careful not to cut all the way across because then you'll have two steaks! lol
Preparing the beef pinwheels
- If your steak feels uneven, you can pound it to make it all one thickness. You can also pound it to make it thinner all across.
- Spread the caramelized onions over steak.
- Top the onions with the baby spinach.
- Top the baby spinach with the sliced provolone cheese.
- Now on to roll our beef. Start from bottom edge and roll up away from you, roll steak into tight log making sure to place it seam-side down when done.
- Next we use the twine to secure the roll. Tie a piece of kitchen twine around the steak. I tend to work from end to end but you can also start working outward from the center. Place the twine ties in one inch intervals, until the whole steak roll is tied up.
- If the ends are uneven. Cut off any meat excess.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the beef roll between the pieces of twine into 1-inch-thick (or thicker) pinwheels.
Cooking the pinwheels
- Note: I prefer to cook mine on a grill skillet but you can use a grill as well.
- Over medium high heat, heat 3 tbs olive oil and and 1 tbs butter in a grill skillet.
- Place the pinwheels in the skillet.
- Sprinkle salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.
- Cook for about 5 minutes before turning over.
- Once you turn them over, add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes again.
- Cook for another 5 minutes or until cooked to your desired doneness.
- I prefer mine almost rare so I cook them a little less.
- Once done cooking, let the pinwheels rest 5-10 minutes (covered with aluminum foil).
