Classic Roast Beef and Gravy

I handed Tony his plate and went back to the kitchen to plate mine and take the pics!  As I walked back he said “this is probably one of the most flavorful roasts I have ever had!”  I almost stopped in my tracks at that comment!  The reason being is that sometimes I can spend HOURS on a meal, and while in my head I think it will be amazing – the results are usually anything but stellar.

But this recipe is amazing!   It’s from my Cook’s Country magazine again.  You’ll see my modifications below.

Classic Roast Beef and Gravy

• 1 top sirloin roast, fat trimmed to 1/4 inch thick (my grocery store only had a sirloing TIP roast so that’s what I got – not sure what the difference is though!)  Mine was actually 3 1/2 pounds.
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I ended up using 2 tablespoons – the first one evaporated pretty quickly!)
• 8 ounces whie mushrooms, copped
• 2 onions, chopped fine (left those out of course!)
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 celery rib (left out because they remind Tony and I of onions!)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (I tried to find tomato paste in a tube, but no luck!) I ended up using a small can, and stuck the leftovers in the fridge to add to soup later)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 cans beef broth (or four cups total)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1. Pat roast dry with paper towels.  Rub 2 teaspoons of salt evenly over the surface and cover with plastic wrap for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.  (I did this for an hour – probably made it more juicy?)
2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat over to 275 degrees.  Pat roast dry with paper towels and rub with 1 teaspoon pepper.  Heat oil in large dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Brown roast all over, 8 to 12 minutes, then transfer to a V-rack set insode a roasting pan (do not wipe out Dutch oven).  (I don’t have a v-rack, so I just placed mine on a cookie sheet above a jelly roll pan).  Transfer to oven and cook until meat registeres 125 degrees (mine took about 1 1/2 hours – use a temp probe if you can!)
3. Meanwhile, add mushrooms to fat in Dutch oven and cook until golden, about 5 minutes.  Stir in onions, carrot, and celery and cook about 5 to 7 minutes.  Stir in tomato paste, garlic and flour and cook for 2 minutes. (don’t skimp on the time – you want to cook the flour so you don’t taste it in the end).  Stir in wine and broth, scraping up any browned delicious bits on the bottom of the pan.  Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.  Strain the gravy and stir in the Worchestershire sauce – season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Transfer roast to foil and wrap up for 20 minutes.  (Don’t skimp on this step either – you need to let the juices redistribute after taking out of the oven.  Serve with gravy and enjoy!!

I love the picture that follows – you can see the photograph in the magazine and what my plate looks like:  pretty close!

Here’s a close-up of my plate:

So I started watching Dexter with Hannah and I just couldn’t get into it.  She’s off of school until Wednesday, so I am pretty sure the next two days will be spent watching the whole first season!

Off to relax with Tony – I think the football game is just about over – only two more weeks til the Superbowl!  I need to start thinking about snacks!

See you tomorrow – hope you send some cool zucchini recipes my way!