Foolproof Roast Beef

I used to be afraid of cooking roast beef. There's such a huge expectation associated with its outcome. Slightly overdone and that beautiful, tender, juicy cut is turned to a tough fibrous hunk of meat. So sad. Unlike turkey at Thanksgiving or Christmas, which, in my opinion, is just a vessel for stuffing and an excuse to cook at least 5 different side dishes to go with a protein, roast beef is usually the star of the show, the centre of the meal, from which all other dishes stem. It has to be good!

So how did I overcome my fear? I tried and failed, and tried and failed again, until I finally got the knack of it. I also had a little help from Jamie Oliver who makes a mean roast beef. His recipe was the inspiration for mine. I follow it in my head loosely every time and that, coupled with a good meat thermometer, gets me the ideal medium I'm looking for. I have also discovered that two herbs are key- rosemary and sage- and that the best root vegetable to use is a parsnip. Yes, a parsnip. Something about the flavour it imparts of the beef makes it taste so unbelievably yummy I can't help but go back for seconds (and practically drink the gravy you can make from the drippings).

Unlike something like a pot roast, which can use any cut of meat really, go for quality here. Sirloin, prime rib- they're the best for this recipe. Grass-fed if you can! You can taste the difference in the meat compared to conventionally raised cattle. Don't forget, you are what you eat eats...

Foolproof Roast Beef

Prep Time: 15 minutes (30 minutes if you count needing to let the meat sit at room temperature for about a half hour before roasting)
Cook Time: 1-1.5 hours, depending on the size of roast you're cooking
Weeknight Feasibility: Poor. Leave this to Sunday night roast dinner.

Ingredients:
1-1.5kg good quality beef
1 cooking onion, quartered
2 celery ribs, stems cut off and chopped in half
2-4 of either parsnip, carrot, turnip (a combination of parsnip-carrot, parsnip-turnip is ideal), cut in half lengthwise
5 whole cloves of garlic
4-5 sprigs each of fresh sage and rosemary
Olive oil for drizzling
Salt & pepper 

1. Preheat oven to 240C/475F.
2. In a roasting pan, lay the onion, root vegetables, garlic cloves and herbs. Drizzle liberally with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Drizzle olive oil and rub salt and pepper all over the roast. Place roast on top of the vegetables, fat side up. 
4. Place roast on centre rack of oven and immediately turn temperature down to 200C/400F. Roast until a meat thermometer shows an internal temperature of 130-140 for medium-rare/medium (about 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the roast). Remove roast from oven and transfer the meat to a cutting board. Place a sheet of aluminum foil over the roast and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Slice thinly and serve.

A note for making gravy: I found the best way to extract the most flavour from the roast drippings is to take a potato masher and mash up all the veggies that were used to roast the meat on. Once everything is well mashed, strain the mixture into a bowl and use the resulting juices as the gravy base. Flavour central!