Garlic Roast Beef

By Paul Briand

As I was picking through the meat cooler at the grocery store the other day, I realized I had never cooked a roast before.

And the roast looking back at me from the cooler seemed the perfect starting point to remedy that situation.

The trick to a good roast is to a) not overcook it and b) have enough fat on the roast to render the juices necessary for a good gravy.

I accomplished the latter, but the roast was a little overcooked, despite my judicious use of a meat thermometer. I like it rare, this was medium.

But here’s a basic recipe for roast I found at the Simply Recipes website. I liked it because of the addition of the garlic.

Ingredients
3 to 3 1/2 lbs of Boneless Rump Roast (pick an end cut with a layer of fat if you can)
Olive oil
8 slivers of garlic
Salt and pepper
For the gravy:
Red wine, water, and or beef stock
Corn starch

Directions
1. Start with the roast at room temperature (remove from refrigerator 1 hour before cooking - keep it wrapped). Preheat the oven to 375 degrees;
2. With a sharp knife make 8 small incisions around the roast. Place a sliver of garlic into each incision;
3. Take a tablespoon or so of olive oil and spread all around the roast. Sprinkle around the roast with salt and pepper;
4. Place the roast directly on a roasting rack, fatty side up, with a drip pan underneath it;
5. Brown the roast at 375 degrees for half an hour. Lower the heat to 225 degrees. The roast should take somewhere from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours additionally to cook;
6. Pull the roast from the oven when the inside temperature of the roast is 135 to 140 degrees;
7. Let the roast rest for at least 15 minutes, tented in aluminum foil to keep warm, before carving;
For the gravy:
1. Remove the dripping pan from the oven and place on the stove top at medium heat;
2. Add some water, red wine, or beef stock to the drippings to deglaze;
3. Dissolve a tablespoon of cornstarch in a little water and add to the drip pan;
4. Stir quickly while the gravy thickens to avoid lumping. Add a little butter if there is not a lot of fat in the drippings;
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Click here for recipe card.