Roast beef - practice round

I used a small topside from Marks & Spencer for practice. Ideally, I should be using a sirloin.

Preheat the oven to 180degC.

Tie up your lovely roast with some twine (as you can see I was never in the Girl Guides). Season well with salt and pepper. Then, brown it in a pan on high heat. You want a happy sizzle as you put the meat down!

Place the mirepoix on a roasting pan and place the beef on top of the vegetable mix, and stick the lot in the oven for at least 20-25 mins.

Brown the potatoes in a small pan with an unhealthy amount of butter and touch of salt. Because the Hubby was out with clients at dinner, I decided to simply use the spuds I was turning for practice. We usually have A LOT more potatoes than this!

Because I'd browned the potatoes on a non-stick pan, I transferred them to a small roasting pan before letting it join the roast.

 

Use a meat thermometer to check on the roast when time is up. Remove and let the meat rest. Ideally, you should rest it for as long as you took to cook it (so say it was in the oven for 25 minutes, then rest it for 25 minutes). Cover partially with kitchen foil to retain the crispness.

Now, get on with making your jus. Drain the mirepoix of excess oil and place it in a small pot, along with a bouquet garni and beef stock. Bring to a boil, skimming off any oily or scummy bits. Strain it, then reduce to half. Season to taste.

For me, I was going for a rare to medium rare roast, so here's how it looked before plating:

Homemade beef stock

Beef stock is not something I would made everyday. It is a super long process... and I don't use beef stock regularly (more chicken stock, which I make regularly). But we learnt it in school, so I decided to have a go at home.

It is best to use veal bones, but my local butcher did not get veal bones this weekend so I made do with beef bones.
 
First, brown the beef bones on the stove.

Place all the bones on a roasting pan and stick that in the oven at 230 deg C to roast for about 20 minutes.

While the bones are roasting, work on the mirepoix. Brown the vegetable mix on the stove.

Place the entire pan in the oven for about 5 minutes, replace on the stove and add mushrooms and tomato paste. Mix well.

Return to oven for about 5 minutes.

Place the bones in a huge pot, and cover with cold water.

Add the mirepoix to the pot, and add a bouquet garni. Degrease and deglaze the pan, and then add the liquid to the pot.

Skim the top of scummy bits as you bring the stock to a boil, then leave to simmer for 8 hours. Strain and viola, you have homemade beef stock.