Classic Roast Beef

At Christmas time I had purchased a rump roast - they were buy one get one free, so I got two. I ended up not cooking one for Christmas so had both in the freezer.  I thought I'd do one for Sunday dinner and perhaps one another time. The "other" time came up when I hosted book club this month.

I wanted to follow the recipe exactly because I was determined to get a roast beef that was pink and not grey. Too much heat too quickly causes a grey looking meat that's kinda gross. I was successful in my endeavors.  The meat was cooked to a perfect medium rare - if I do say so myself.

This recipe takes time for the beef to cook 2-3 hours. So you do have to plan ahead. I'm a fan of making sure my meat is at room temp before I cook it too - it doesn't shock the beef and then make it tough. Could be an old wives tale, but dad did so I do.

I made mashed potatoes on the side as well as this recipe makes a fantastic gravy. I saved the vegetables to make a pureed soup with down the road. You could serve them if you wanted to.

The best part is I have left overs for French dip sammies. Oh yummy.

Classic Roast Beef
Recipe from Cook's Country
Serves 6-8

Photo courtesy of Cook's Country

1 (4-5 lb) boneless top round roast, fat trimmed to 1/4 inch
Salt and pepper
1 T vegetable oil
4 T unsalted butter
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2" pieces
1 onion, cut into 1/2 " rings
1 celery rib, cut into 2" pieces
1/2 c flour
1 tsp tomato paste
2 (10.5oz) cans of beef consommé (Have 2 on hand, but depending on how much gravy you want, one can may be enough.)
1 1/2 c water

If your roast isn't bound, tie some kitchen twine around it to keep it together. Sprinkle roast with 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp pepper. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 225F.Heat oil in 12" oven safe skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Pat roast dry with paper towels. Brown all sides of the roast, set aside.

Pour off all but 2 T of fat from the skillet and reduce heat to medium and melt butter in skillet. Add carrots, onion and celery and cook until lightly browned, 6-8 minutes. Add flour and tomato paste and cook until flour is golden and tomato paste begins to darken, about 2 minutes. Off heat, push vegetables to the center off skillet. Place roast on top of vegetables and transfer skillet to oven - uncovered. cook until meat registers 125 for medium rare, 2-3 hours (Jenn note: I cooked mine to 150 for medium rare. It could be my meat thermometer, but 125 seems very rare to me.

Transfer roast to carving board, ten with foil and let rest for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, using potholder, return skillet with vegetables to medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in consommé and water, scraping up any browned bits. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, 10-15 minutes. Strain gravy through a fine mesh strainer into 4 cups liquid. Add salt and pepper to taste - though check it first, mine was plenty salty.

Remove twine from roast and slice thin against the grain. Serve with gravy.