Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding

This traditional Roast Beef dish with a red wine gravy harks back to the classic Sunday Roast Dinner … a thick slice of Roast Beef with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, vegetables and proper gravy … one of the best tasting meals you can imagine, one with a long and proud tradition. Always buy your beef from a local butcher, who has an excellent reputation, and make sure it has plenty of fat and marbling, and preferably a good joint which has been aged. When buying beef, allow about 225g per person. You can actually do a lot of the preparation the evening before, peel and chop all the vegetables and store them in pans of water.

Advice: Vegetables grown above the ground are more tender and take less time to cook – cook them in boiling salted water. If you are serving root vegetables, or anything grown below the ground, you should always start them off in cold water, and bring them slowly up to the boil. When roasted let the beef rest for half an hour to redistribute the juices and relax, letting it become succulent and tender before slicing and serving.

Roast Beef Recipe

Recipe Ingredients:

For the beef

• 2.5kg of rib eye beef, (on the bone) or Beef Sirloin
• 2 tbsp English mustard
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 tbsp of water
• 2 tbsp of Plain Flour
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1 tsp of ground black pepper
• 1 Large Red Onion (peeled and quartered)
• 1 Medium Carrot, (peeled and chopped into chunks)
• 2 Celery Sticks, (cut into chunks)
• A Few Sprigs Of Thyme
• A Few Rosemary Sprigs
• 2 Bay Leaves

For the Yorkshire pudding

• 250g plain flour
• 3 large fresh eggs
• 300ml of milk
• pinch of salt
• enough vegetable oil or lard or beef dripping for roasting

For the roast potatoes

• see this Perfect Roast Potato Recipe

For the gravy

• pan-roasting juices
• 1 tbsp flour
• 300ml of red wine
• 500ml fresh Beef Stock
• sea salt and pepper to season

For the seasonal vegetables

• pick two or three seasonal vegetables to steam or cook to accompany

Recipe Method:

First: Make up the Yorkshire Pudding batter mix before hand, allowing to rest in the fridge for at least an hour, and up to 12 hours.

For The Roast Beef

Allow the beef to reach room temperature if taken from the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 230C

Trim any excess fat from the beef, leaving a thin, even layer on. Rub the beef all over with the olive oil, then rub all over with the English mustard.

In a small bowl mix the plain flour with the ground sea salt and black pepper. Coat the beef with the seasoned flour which will stick to the mustard if sprinkled over.

Into a heavy-based roasting tray, which has been lightly oiled, put the water, onion, carrot, celery, bay and herbs. Drizzle over a little more oil and season with a little sea salt and pepper. Place the Beef on top of the vegetables, so it is off the bottom of the roasting tray (or on a wire rack).

Put the beef into the oven for 15 minutes then turn the oven temperature down to 190C

Roasting times: Roast for half an hour per kilo for rare, adding another ten minutes per kilo for medium rare, add 20 minutes per kilo for medium, and add 30 minutes per kilo for well done.

When you have roasted the meat, and a skewer comes out hot, with clear juices, it can be removed from the oven to rest. Loosely cover with foil and rest the meat for a minimum of 30 minutes before carving, letting the juices that have bubbled up to the surface seep back into the meat. Also, as the meat relaxes, it becomes easier to carve.

For The Yorkshire Puddings

Make in advance: For the Yorkshire pudding batter, mix together the eggs and milk, then stirring constantly add the milk and the flour, until you have a runny batter that can coat the back of a spoon. Leave this to rest, covered, in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to 12 hours.

When the beef is almost finished, (or even now resting) prepare to cook the Yorkshire pudding mix which you made earlier. Place 1cm (½inch) of beef dripping or lard in the bottom of each round tin mould, or if you are using a large rectangular roasting tray, place 1cm (½inch) of beef dripping or lard across the bottom. Heat the dripping in the oven at 240C for about ten minutes, until it is piping hot. It is essential it is very hot, so be careful with this part of the dish.

Remove the roasting tray from the oven, pour in the batter, and immediately return to the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown and crispy, making sure not to open the oven door for the first 20 minutes.

For The Roast Potatoes

See this recipe: Perfect Roast Potatoes

For The Seasonal Vegetables

Choose any local, seasonal vegetables like boiled potatoes, swede, broccoli, asparagus, peas and carrots, and when the beef is cooking prepare them, chopping and cleaning them. (or do them the night before and store in pans of water ready). Place in a steamer or pan of salted water to boil etc and leave. When the beef is resting put on the vegetables to cook / steam / boil. Drain when cooked and serve.

For The Red Wine Gravy

While the potatoes and Yorkshire puddings are in the oven, make the gravy.

After removing the joint of beef to rest discard the bay leaves and transfer the vegetables and herbs in the roasting tin to a saucepan. Pour off all put 2 tbsp of the oil/fat, (to discard) leaving the roasting juices behind, and put the roasting tray over a medium heat on the cooker hob. Stir in the flour and cook, gently stirring and scraping the burnt on caramelised and roasted bits into the flour, and roasting juices.

Pour in the wine, bring to a simmer and continue to gently stir and scrape the bottom of the roasting tray. Now tip all of this into the saucepan with the vegetables, bring to a boil, mash down the vegetables and reduce the wine by half as it bubbles away. Pour in the beef stock, stir and reduce again by half until it is a light, gravy consistency. Season with salt and pepper, strain through a fine sieve, to remove all the lumps, into a jug or gravy boat. Press down on the vegetables to remove all the juice and gravy from them in the sieve.

To Serve Roast Beef With Red Wine Gravy

On warm plates serve the Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes immediately with the thick slices of carved roast beef and seasonal vegetables. Pour over a generous amount of the red wine gravy.