Len's Recipe of the Month - April 2016

From my Sunday Memory Drawer last week, roast dinner is on my mind.   This is what my parents used to make with an eye round of beef, but I do it a little differently.

And better.

Here's your recipe for the above plate which even looks good in the photo.

Three vegetables are needed.   My dad used to peel big clunky Idaho potatoes, but, frankly, I do this much in a much easier fashion with either some Fingerling potatoes or those small Yukon Golds.  Wash them and simply slice them up into smaller pieces.  Throw them in a bowl.   You don't even have to peel them.

Slice up three large carrots into 1/4 or 1/2 pieces.   Into the bowl, please.

Take one large yellow onion.   Want to know an easy way to peel it without complication or tears?   Microwave it for 30-45 seconds.   You will be astonished by how easy it is to peel it now.   That tip comes from Valerie Bertinelli.  Slice up the onion into quarters, then eighths.   Throw it into the same bowl.

Now, in a small mixing bowl, take 1/2 cup of good olive oil.   Mix in a tablespoon of rosemary, a teaspoon of thyme, a tablespoon of kosher salt, and a teaspoon of fresh ground pepper.   Then use some of that tubed garlic, which mixes in well.   Two good squirts.   Whisk it all up and toss it in the bowl of veggies.   Make sure everything gets coated.   Spray a baking dish with some Pam and then spread the vegetable medley (love that word) evenly across it.

Now prep your eye round of beef, which can be a tough piece of meat if you don't do it correctly.   You want to use a rub that is easily made from kosher salt, olive oil, pepper, and a little more garlic.   Spread it evenly all over the meat.   

Okay, to do this all correctly, you really need two different oven ranges.   What? You don't have two oven ranges.   Well, move.

Preheat one of the oven ranges to 500 degrees.   Yes, 500 degrees.   Place the meat on top of some tin foil in a roasting pan.   You want to know how much the meat weighs because you will cook it in that satanic chamber for 6 minutes per pound.   

While the meat is sizzling, preheat the other oven at 275 degrees.   

After your six minutes per pound session, pull the meat out and fold the tin foil up so it covers the meat like a tent.  Lower the temperature to 170 degrees and place the meat back in for one hour.

At the same time, place the baking dish of vegetables in the other oven for an hour.   You will find to spoon them around from time to time.

After an hour (or when the inside temperature of the meat is around 130-140 degrees for medium rare), pull the meat out and let it rest for ten minutes.  The juices should be abundant.  Slice it in 1/2 inch chunks.

Pull out the vegetables which should have cooked nicely with a lot of flavor.

If the end result doesn't look like the picture above, you did something wrong.

Dinner last night:  Leftover Chinese beef and vegetables.