It was a damp and slightly chilly Sunday, and Rich had a taste for a pot roast. I was going to the market anyway, so figured I’d pick up a chuck roast and that’d be that.
No dice.
Oh, the market had chuck roasts – but they all looked terrible and stringy and not at all what I wanted to cook with.
Then I saw this sirloin roast, which was one of my dad’s favorite cuts.
Of course, the Gen’ral (my dad) would roast his with just a dab of water, some salt, pepper, and a bay leaf until the poor beast was so dry you got beef dust when slicing it.
I had another plan; adapting my pot roast o’ love recipe, stuffing this roast full of garlic, and trying a bit of the Beef Roast Seasoning Blend we’d picked up on our last visit to The Spice House.
INGREDIENTS
•1 (2-3/4 lb) sirloin tip roast, netted or tied
•10 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
•3 tsp Beef Roast Seasoning
•1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
•1 tsp salt
•1 cup dry red wine
•4 large carrots, scrubbed
•4 stalks celery, trimmed and cut in half
•1 sweet onion, peeled and sliced into rings
•3 bay leaves
•Sichuan peppercorns
•Aleppo pepper
Heat your oven to 400º and line a large Dutch oven with foil, leaving enough extra to enclose the veggies and the roast.
Cut small slits around the roast and stuff them with the peeled and halved garlic cloves.
Arrange the veggies in the bottom of the foil-lined pot and top with the bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, and Aleppo pepper.
Rub the garlic studded roast beast with the seasoning blend (or your own blend of choice) and the salt and pepper.
Place the seasoned roast on top of the veggies, pour the red wine over all, then close the foil up and over the roast. Be sure to leave a pocket for steam to build up on top of the roast.
Cover the pot and pop it in the oven for 90 minutes.
Reduce the oven temp to 350º, open the foil packet and baste the roast with the pan juices – I added a dash of Worcestershire and hot sauce at this point – reclose the foil, and pop it all back into the oven for another 90 minutes.
Remove from the oven, let rest for 10 or 15 minutes, then carve and serve as you will. We had ours with seasoned roasted potatoes and my favorite French peas.
In truth, tho this was a fine roast beast, I think it was in the oven for a bit too long. Next time, I plan on setting the oven at 350º to start with, and mebbe reduce that second roasting period after basting to an hour.
Still and all, a nice roast, and the leftovers made for some truly fine roll up sammiches with garlic cheese and honey mustard.