We purchased a quarter steer from ST Bar Ranch in December and Liz delivered it in four large boxes—two full of ground beef and two with steaks and all kinds of roasts. I organized the freezer so that we’d know what was where without too much digging around.
This recipe uses a Top Round roast but the method will work with any lean roast like Eye of Round or Sirloin Tip. The more tender roasts like Top-Loin, Prime-Rib, Tenderloin, and Tri-Tip can also be prepared with this dry-roasting technique. Save chuck roasts for braising and the slow cooker.
Herb-Crusted Roast Beef
recipe adapted from Ask Chef Dennis
Ingredients
- fresh rosemary and thyme about 4 sprigs each
- 3 or 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon sea salt or Kosher salt
- several twists of black pepper
- 2–3 pound beef Top Round roast
serve with horseradish cream (horseradish stirred into sour cream), baguettes, cornichons
Instructions
Optional: prepare the herbs and garlic, apply to roast and refrigerate overnight before roasting.
Allow beef to come to room temperature for 1 hour before roasting.
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Strip the leaves from the herbs and coarsely chop. Smash the garlic cloves to remove the papery skin then mince and mash with the salt. Combine herbs, garlic, salt, and black pepper then pat on roast. Allow roast to sit at room temperature for 1 hour before roasting.
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Preheat oven to 450°F. Get out a roasting pan and rack to hold the roast.
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Roast at 450° for 15 minutes then lower heat to 325°F for an additional 45–60 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 125–130° for medium-rare. Allow roast to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
Recipe Notes / Tips
- I like the high-temp blast at the beginning but some people say it makes the meat tough near the surface and they prefer to roast at 325° for the duration. I haven't tried this but wanted to leave this note in the recipe.
- My roast didn't give any pan drippings but if you're lucky, deglaze with some red wine, add additional beef broth and you have yourself au jus
- When using a digital thermometer, leave it in the meat for a good 5–10 seconds to get an accurate reading
- Pull the meat from the heat when thermometer is 5–10° lower than target temperature:
- rare 125°
- medium-rare 135°
- medium 145°
