A New Recipe - Balsamic Roasted Beef

Somewhere along the line, I missed out of the genes that would allow me to both cook healthy food and keep up with the housework. When I was keeping the house up, we ate takeout every night. Now that I'm cooking, the place is a disaster area.

I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm not superhuman and have decided to focus my attention on getting us eating healthier, as I think that is more important than not having laundry laying around.

I like roast  beef but Jack doesn't (unless it's Beefcarver), but when I found a top sirloin roast at the grocery store, I thought we'd give it a shot. The end result was that Jack went back for seconds!

The recipe I used was from the blog So Tasty So Yummy. Here is the original recipe: Balsamic Roasted Beef. I really like this blog, as the recipes all seem to contain "real food" and not canned or boxed ingredients.

I made a few modifications to suit us (added garlic, because everything is better with garlic.) Here is my version.

2 ½ pounds filet of beef, trimmed and tied. Buy top sirloin filet/roast.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine
1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon coarsely cracked black pepper

4 cloves garlic, sliced thin

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Prepare dutch oven by drizzling two tablespoons olive oil in the bottom.

Place the beef in the dutch oven. Combine the red wine, vinegar, and salt in a small bowl. Spread the mixture on the filet and brush it evenly over the top and sides. Sprinkle the cracked pepper evenly all over the meat. Sprinkle the sliced garlic on top of the roast. Cover with lid.

Roast the filet for 30 minutes exactly for medium-rare (25 minutes for rare and 35 minutes for medium). Remove the pan from the oven, leave the lid on, and allow the beef to rest in the pan for 10 minutes. Slice thinly and serve with gravy (use beef broth to make gravy).

Serve with: Cheesy potatoes and green beans with toasted almonds and garlic. 

A couple lessons learned:

 One: my ceramic coated dutch oven may well be toast after this recipe. There are blackened burnt drippings all over the inside. I've yet to find out if I can successfully clean it off without destroying the ceramic coating. I may have to dedicate this one to making roasts and get a second for other meals. 

Two: cut off the well done ends and eat the tender meat from the middle of the roast.

Three:  this is much better with a little gravy. I used beef broth to make the gravy, but next time I think I'll try to salvage some of the drippings from the pan and use those. 

We have a lot of leftovers, as there is no way the two of us could eat an entire filet of beef, but I'm hoping to use them tomorrow in a beef pot pie of some sort. And cheesy potatoes never go to waste around here.