Sunday Roast

My family LOVE a Sunday roast and all the trimmings.  Yesterday I acquired a rather luscious piece of beef and decided to give it a go. It was Topside, which can be rather hit or miss when it comes to tenderness, but this turned out perfectly. Tender, tasty and perfectly med-rare. I chopped up some onions, carrots and celery sticks and placed them in a small roasting pan. Added some sprigs of fresh thyme and a whole head of garlic. I separated the cloves but left them in their skins. Sprinkled a few peppercorns, seasoned the meat with garlic salt, placed it on top of the vegetable and herbs, and drizzled olive oil over the whole lot.

The best way to roast beef, I've discovered, especially if you want it to be nice and med-rare, is to roast for a shortish time on a high heat. This piece was 1.2kg and I roasted it for 50mins at 210C. I then left it to rest for half an hour. This is very important, as it allows all the juices to settled down so that when you slice it, it remains juicy.

The garlic had gone a yummy caramel colour and when I squeezed the skins the garlic all squished out. I blitzed the vegetables and garlic and after sieving out all the hard bits incorporated it with some beef stock for gravy. Also added some white wine.

The saying in my family is that you can never have too many roast potatoes, so I always make extra, and they always get devoured. My method is to parboil first. I've tried both. Parboiling, and roasting from raw, and parboiling in my opinion always makes a better roast potato. After boiling them for about 8 mins, I shake them around a bit in the pot (after removing the water) and the edges get nice and rough. This helps them get ultra crispy. I then drizzle them with olive oil and lots of salt and pepper, shake them around some more, and pop them in the oven until they're ready. I turn them around every once in a while so that they roast evenly.

Now all that's needed are the veggies, a glass of good red wine or 3 and BON APPETIT!