Short & Sweet Sunday - Slow Roast Beef

I was under the weather and very busy this week so didn't cook or photograph much food.  This week's Short & Sweet Sunday is an excuse to use an incomplete photo set from a roast beef dinner last week.  I took some prep pictures, but once I put it in the oven, things went a bit haywire and I didn't take any pictures of the food once it was cooked. 

This is a great method for roast beef.  It doesn't give you a brown crust, but the meat is the same temperature and colour all the way through, making for delicious, tender results.

Preheat the oven to a low 280 degrees Fahrenheit.

Let the roast sit at room temperature for about an hour before cooking.  I used a sirloin tip roast this time.

Since it won't be seared, I like to rub the whole roast with a mixture of chopped garlic, rosemary, thyme, olive oil and salt and pepper.  

Cooking at such a low temperature takes a while.  This one was about 3 lbs and took about two and a half hours.  

Often I'll make mashed potatoes with this roast because I normally roast potatoes at 400 to get them nice and crispy, but this time I put some potatoes in at the same time and the roast and then turned the heat up once I took the roast out to rest.  It worked pretty well to give them some crisp crust.

I took the beef out when it was at 140 degrees and let it rest, then sliced it thin with an electric knife and served it with the potatoes, some green beans and lots of horseradish.  

The beef was pink all the way through - tender and delicious.  

One Important Lesson Learned:

• Whatever you do, don't leave the meat thermometer in the roast when you put it back in the oven!  Of course this was just a silly mistake, but the plastic thermometer casing started to melt and smoke and could have ruined the whole meal if I hadn't caught it in time.  Plus, that's the reason I don't have any pictures of the finished meal - it threw me totally off track.