Horseradish Roast Beef Recipe

I bought a large bottom sirloin roast a few weeks ago and as I was cleaning up the freezer, I decided to cook it for dinner and maybe replicate the same recipe for Christmas.

If you’re not sure what you’d like to serve as the main course for your holiday meal, I'd like to suggest that a homemade roast beef is a great (and delicious) option. This recipe is my favorite way to prepare a large bottom sirloin roast. The marinade is a combination of coarse-grained mustard, horseradish, miso and rosemary. I've heard many times that the cooking time depends on the weight of the piece of roast, ranging from 16 minutes per pound for a rare, pink color, all the way up to 30 minutes per pound if you like it well done. My method is much easier; simply insert a probe to capture the temperature in the center of the meat and wait until the internal temperature reaches 145°F for just the right amount of pink. Probe thermometers are awesome!

To keep the meat from burning at the bottom, I also placed a bed of vegetables such as celery stalk, turnips and carrots and filled the bottom with a little beef broth. Enjoy!

Beef Sirloin Tri-Tip Roast Recipe

If you're having trouble cooking red meat to perfect doneness, this recipe is for you because I believe it's fool-proof. I used a bottom sirloin tri-tip roast and marinated it overnight. To ensure the meat is properly seasoned, I placed a spicy marinade (I used homemade chili garlic sauce from last summer, onion purée, maple syrup and cinnamon) in a bag and vacuum-sealed it. The following day, I seared the meat to create an outer crust and the juice remained inside for optimum tenderness. The meat roasted in the oven until the probe thermometer indicated the right internal temperature.

It was quite a large piece of meat; if wrapped properly, you can carve the meat and make the best roast beef sandwich the next day! For all you beef lovers out there, don't forget, La Cense Beef is offering a special deal to Pham Fatale readers. You can get $20 off 8 10-ounce ribeye steaks, plus 1 lb of free meatballs, all with free shipping! If that's too much meat for you, La Cense is also offering $10 off 4 10-ounce ribeye steaks. The offer ends soon, so take advantage of it now if you need steaks from Valentine’s Day, or for any other special occasion you might be planning!

The top photo was taken the following day.

Beef Stew (Boeuf Bourguignon)

Boeuf bourguignon is a traditional French meat dish that is fairly easy to prepare. All you need is a lot of patience because it takes a long time to cook for the beef to become tender and succulent. To help tenderize the meat, I added an unconventional meat tenderizer (papaya paste) to my version of this French classic. If you want to make your beef bourguignon more authentic, just omit this ingredient. I also didn't add pearl onions, as I added a combination of leeks, shallots and sliced onions to the dish instead. The usual root vegetables (carrots and turnips) are also part of the gastronomic experience.

For anyone who is a fan of Julia Child or has watched the recent movie of her life, Julia and Julia, boeuf bourguignon may seem like too much of a challenge to make at home. But it doesn't really have to be this way. I used a slow cooker to make controlling the heat during the cooking process a simple task. With this method you needn't worry about the pot overflowing while the stew simmers. It may look good in movies, but you don't want to have to clean up that mess!

I put the ingredients in the slow cooker on low before going to sleep, and woke up to the aroma of beef stew permeating every room of the house.  For the meat eaters, it's an intoxicating scent; for the vegetarians in my house, not so much. So if you have a slow cooker, try making boeuf bourguignon at home. It's easier to make than it looks, and the results are so worth the effort. And make sure that when you serve the dish to your loved ones, you start the meal with the phrase immortalized by Julia Child, "Bon appétit!"