roast beef

Because I run a food blog, I must be: a) a food snob and/or b) eat elaborate foods everyday.

Other food bloggers can empathize with me on this one and these 2 assumptions are of course...false. I'm not eating fancy, complex or Keller-esque stuff every single meal. Heck, most of the stuff I make for the site isn't that complex to begin with!

Aside from the easy pasta, stir-fries and rice dishes, I really enjoy making (and eating) roasts. Why? It's ridiculously easy, I get a lot of food out of it for little money and it doesn't require a lot of attention. A win win situation for everyone - grad students included. Classmates at school get shocked when I tell them I made a roast last night for dinner and I don't quite understand why. If you stop and think about it...after you dice some vegetables, oil and season the meat all over you're pretty much done! Easier than making that stuff out of the blue box.

I decided to make a blog post out of my weekly roast and pull Jamie Oliver's recipe for roast beef out of his Food Revolution cookbook. Really though...I don't know whether I should even be posting/blogging about this because it's so easy. Who knows? Maybe this will motivate someone to go in the kitchen and make a roast for dinner tonight!

Roast Beef

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

- 4 lbs of beef top round

- 2 medium onions, rough chop

- 3 carrots, rough chop

- 3 stalks of celery, rough chop

- 3 cloves of garlic, smashed and skin left on

- mix of fresh herbs: thyme, rosemary, sage, bay leaf...whatever you have on hand

1) Take the beef out of the fridge 30 minutes before you plan to put it in the oven to bring it to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Wash the vegetables and give them a rough chop. You don't even have to peel them. See? Easy.

2) Scatter vegetables all over a roasting tray along with the herbs. Drizzle olive oil all over the beef and season with salt and pepper. Be generous on the seasoning - it needs it.

3) Place the roasting tray in the oven and turn the heat down to 400 degrees F. Roast for about 55-60 minutes for medium-rare. Roast for about 10 minutes longer for a medium and 20 minutes more for medium-well/well-done. If the bottom of the roasting pan looks too dry while roasting, add a splash of water to add some moisture.

4) Once you're happy with the temperature of the meat, remove and cover loosely with tin foil for 15 minutes and allow it to rest.

5) After the beef's rested, slice with a sharp knife and serve with whatever you want. Bread, rice, vegetables...ramen noodles. Whatever works for you!