Cream Cheese, Bell Pepper, Garlic & Basil Steak Roll-ups

I love dips and creamy spreads. Since giving up mayonnaise and most grains I hadn’t really thought about them anymore until the other day. Like usual I was getting low on fresh ingredients and had a bell pepper, some cheeses and frozen meat and came up with this idea. It was pretty darned great too! I ate them over the course of a couple of days until they were gone and even shared some when an unexpected friend stopped by. I was happy to happen to have them on hand.

First make the spread. I hade 6-ounces of cream cheese so I went with that. If you can’t find a cream cheese without additives then a cream goat cheese would work. Add a large clove of minced garlic to the bowl as well and a good tablespoon of fresh rosemary. Finely chop about half of a red bell pepper, a third to a half cup worth. Any color bell pepper is fine, you could even add celery to this. Add a teaspoon of salt, mix well, cover and refrigerate.

For the steak I had defrosted a thick boneless ribeye, brought it to room temperature and did a reverse sear on it. The directions for that are in this RECIPE section. I ate the crispy fried outer edges of the steak the day before for lunch and used the tender center for this recipe. Cut the steak AGAINST the grain in different lengths, with some slices longer and some shorter, depending on how big you want your bites. Wash and pat dry fresh basil leaves.

Spread the cream cheese mixture over each slice. Add a basil leaf and roll up the steak. I liked this served with some sweet cherry tomato halves.

“Since bacteria in the rumens of cows destroy unsaturated fatty acids, but don’t harm vitamin E, it seems reasonable to suppose that beef and milk would have a better ratio of vitamin E to unsaturated fats than do the plants eaten by the cows.” -Ray Peat