Rosa de Parma - a tenderloin to remember

Beef tenderloin becomes an extraordinary delight for your holiday repast

Parma, Italy, is the nexus of the best ham and cheese in the world — Prosciutto de Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Join that with tenderloin of beef and turn out an extraordinary dish for holiday entertaining, the Rosa de Parma.

I learned this incredible dish at a cooking class in a small apartment in Parma. Our teacher, Maria Rosa, had a hard time making us understand that the piece of meat she rolled and filled was a tenderloin. It wasn't shaped like a long cylinder: It was nearly rectangular, in so far as meat can be, and about an inch and a half thick.

Once we saw how she did it, however, and tasted it, well, we were won over, even in a city where there is no mediocre food. As the accompanying recipe indicates, it can be made ahead and reheated or served cold.

Parma is the kind of city where at lunch you are planning dinner and at dinner you are planning the next day's lunch. Usually it revolves around the ham and cheese for which it is renowned, products unduplicated anywhere in the world. The cheese might be added to eggs and milk to make a custard by itself, or to hold zucchini, tomatoes or whatever is in season.

Prosciutto de Parma, cured for a minimum of 18 months and sliced so thinly it can be read through, can be wrapped around any fruit — mango, peach, fig, melon or pear, for example — and eaten as an hors d'oeuvre. Or it is served radiating out in spokes from the center of a plate, covered tenderly with plastic wrap until the moment of serving so it will not dry out.

These ingredients are so important that only they may carry their names. They have PDOs (Protected Designation of Origin) from the European Community certification system, which is designed to protect the names of high-quality foods made according to traditional methods in a defined geographic region.

The concept of "terroir" holds that the taste and other unique qualities of traditionally made foods and wines are influenced directly by soil, plant life, climate and time-honored methods of production that can't be replicated elsewhere. This is certainly true of Prosciutto de Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

The cheese is made twice a day with milk from cows fed special grasses and flowers. Stirred and heated slowly in shining copper vats until the curd separates from the whey, the curd is scooped up in cloth and moved to a brine, then ultimately stored in huge rooms that are strictly temperature controlled. Each of the 150-kilo cheeses are wiped and turned every day, and regularly tested for excellence with a little hammer. After no less than 18 months of aging for a second quality and a minimum of two years for first quality, with four years for the top quality, it is tested yet again and deemed by the Consortio de Parma (a strictly regulated government conglomeration of producers) ready to be stamped with the words Parmigiano-Reggiano. After further testing and aging, it is pronounced ready to sell.

The whey, not discarded, is fed to local pigs. Those for Prosciutto de Parma are four months older at slaughtering than the average pig at six months, contributing to their tenderness and flavor. The hams they produce are cured a minimum of one year, but usually more than 14 months, with no additives. These salt-cured hams are massaged daily, and aged by a 2,000 year-old process until they, too, pass government inspection. (One leg, aged 14 years, recently sold for $6,000.)

Before you start this recipe, some basics to know:

A tenderloin of beef can vary widely in size, depending on the size of the animal. There are three major parts: the large end, called the butt; the middle, which is the heart or best part of the meat; and the tail, which is thinner than the rest. Running alongside the middle portion is a thin piece of meat encased in fat called the "chain." The "chain" should be removed, either by the butcher or the cook. It is delicious on its own, once the fat is scraped off, being used for dishes such as beef stroganoff or making spectacular hamburgers.

--In this recipe, the butt end of the tenderloin is removed as well, and used to make a separate, smaller, roast, because it is easier to deal with that way. It may be sliced and served with the larger portion, or saved for a romantic meal if you prefer your special holiday meals a deux.

Rosa de Parma

Serves 10-15

-- 1 tenderloin of beef, stripped of silver skin, fat and gristle, chain removed (about 3-5 pounds)

-- 1/2 pound of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

-- 1/2 pound of thinly sliced Prosciutto de Parma

-- Oil for brushing

Use a large, sharp knife to remove the butt from the meat. (You will see a "line" of fat in the meat that is easy to follow.) Both the butt and the remaining tenderloin should be cut as follows:

With the meat positioned lengthwise, cut down the center of the meat (butterfly) leaving the meat hinged in the center. With your knife in the middle of one of the sides, cut again lengthwise down the meat, parallel to the cutting board, again leaving a hinge. Repeat on the second side. You will now have three parallel hinges. Cover with plastic wrap and pound to become a thin piece of meat about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Cover the meat with a layer of sliced Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, then a layer of thinly sliced Prosciutto de Parma, then another layer of the cheese. Roll the beef, starting from one side of the beef and continuing to the other. Tie securely with butcher's twine. This may be done in advance about 24 hours.

When ready to cook, bring to room temperature and rub with olive oil.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Move the meat to a rack on a roasting pan and cook until a meat thermometer registers 130 degrees for rare and medium rare. Remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes. The temperature will soar up to 140 degrees in the center of the meat, higher on the outside. Slice thinly and serve with pan juices.

Nathalie Dupree, who lives in Charleston, is the former director of Rich's Cooking School in Atlanta and author of eight cookbooks, including " Nathalie Dupree's Comfortable Entertaining" and "Shrimp & Grits." Reach her at nathalie.com.

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