What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?

Years ago my family, including my young four year-old daughter, were invited to have dinner with a church family. Our hostess served what I would call a “Sunday roast.” By that I mean, it was a round roast that typically gets dry when cooked. My innocent little one looked at me and said, “Mommy this is hard meat!” I don’t remember how red my face got, or how I covered for my child’s honest (though blunt) summation of the meal, but not only was I afraid to ever take this child to another person’s home, I was also afraid to cook that kind of roast, for fear I would get the same results (which I usually did)!

I recently found a Beef Bottom Round Roast on sale at Sam’s Club. When I got it home, I knew I had to find a recipe that would help me get something less than “hard meat” from it! I think I’ve found the answer! The trick is in cooking it for a short period of time at a high temperature, then turning the oven off while the roast continues to cook in the closed oven!

Here is the result:

Cooked this way, the roast is a little pink in the middle and is juicy and delicious!

The outside made me wonder if it was going to be dry. It looked like this:

But, it was perfect!

I cooked the roast on Saturday, then sliced it. For our Sunday dinner, all I had to do was warm up the slices. You could do this process on Sunday while you’re at church, but I wanted to be sure it would reach the correct internal temperature instead of coming home to a too-rare roast. Here’s what you do:

Ingredients:

1 (3 pound)beef eye of round roast
salt and pepper to taste
(I also added about 1/2 – 1 cup Beef Broth near the end of the cooking time – even though it says not to open the oven door!)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Season the roast with salt and pepper and place in a roasting pan or baking dish. Do not cover or add water.
Place the roast in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C). Roast for 21 minutes (seven minutes per pound) then turn off the oven and let the roast sit in the hot oven for 2 1/2 hours. Do not open the door at all during this time!
Remove the roast from the oven, the internal temperature should have reached at least 145 degrees F (65 degrees C). (I had to leave my roast in about 20 more minutes) Carve into thin slices to serve.

My menu for yesterday:

Bottom Roast

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

Fresh Beans

Frozen Waldorf Salad

The salad was made last week, but I had plenty left! That’s what I love about frozen salads!

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes for Sunday Dinner

The potatoes were a new “try” for Sunday dinner and worked great. If you have an auto timer on your oven, you will love this. Dice the potatoes into small cubes. Drizzle with Olive Oil, chopped fresh rosemary, salt and pepper. Place in oven and set timer for 25 minutes and oven temperature for 425 degrees. It was great to come home and the potatoes be fully ready!

I’m looking forward this week to a Roast Beef Sandwich with the leftovers!

What was cooking at your house this weekend?

From my parsonage kitchen,