Easy High Heat Beef Roast: Lazy Woman Makes Dinner

When it's this cold, I have no motivation to leave the house if I don't have to go. Sure the dog needs a few walks, but basically I'm happy to putter around indoors and dream of spring, especially since Groundhog Day is the official halfway point of winter. So at least we're on the downhill slide toward better weather. I spent part of today cleaning out my old home office which has become a catch-all for books and what-not; turns out my friend Leslie did pretty much the same in her basement. Since we're both gardeners, we're just killing time until we can be outside. I got so involved moving and sorting books that I wouldn't have had a good dinner on the table this evening if I didn't have this roast beef trick up my sleeve: Easy High Heat Roast Beef. Guarantees a happy group of eaters, because its delicious, beefy and juicy.

What's really nice about this is it's virtually no work on the part of the cook. All  you need is a 3 pound eye of round beef roast, some salt, pepper, a roasting pan, and a leave-in meat thermometer.  If your oven doesn't have glass in the door, I highly recommend the digital probe style thermometer, so the base unit will sit outside and you can monitor what's going on in the oven without opening the door. And an oven. You can make anything from a rosy rare to a medium well done beef roast while you nap...or clean. I don't however advise making a medium-well roast from an eye of round; it's a beefy tasting, but not especially tender roast, and is best cooked no more than medium and sliced really thin. Emphasis on thin. An electric knife makes this easy, but a good, sharp carving knife will do the job, too.

One caveat on the oven. This is best made in an electric oven, and even better in a self-cleaning oven as they are well insulated, because for most of the cooking time the oven is turned off. Yep, I said off. All you are going to do is let your roast come to room temperature, preheat your oven to 500ºF, salt and pepper the beef well,  and plop it into your roasting pan. Insert the meat thermometer. Pop it into the oven, immediately lower the heat to 475ºF and roast the meat for 7 minutes a pound, and then shut the oven off. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR.  Leave the meat in the oven for about an hour and peek through the glass at your thermometer. if you want rare beef remove it at 125ºF, for medium rare, remove at 130ºF, and medium nearer to 140ºF and let stand for 15 minutes or so before slicing so the juices will settle into the meat.  If nothing seems to be happening at all, heat your oven to 170ºF (warm on most ovens) and shut off.  It's a terrific meal with a vegetable and something starchy, and wonderful sliced cold for sandwiches with some horseradish on ...rye? Guess what I'm having tomorrow??

Delicious, beefy, juicy, Easy High Heat Roast Beef

Easy High Heat Roast Beef

Ingredients:

1 Beef eye of round roast, about 3 lb.
Salt & pepper

Instructions:

Remove the meat from the refrigerator about an hour ahead of starting to roast.

Preheat the oven to 500ºF. Salt and pepper the meat evenly and place in a roasting pan. Insert the meat thermometer probe.

Place the pan in the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 475ºF. Roast the meat for 7 minutes per pound, and shut off the oven. Do not open the door. It should take your roast about an hour in a very well insulated oven to reach rare (125ºF to allow for carryover cooking as it rests) and nearly two hours to reach medium (140ºF plus standing time). Let stand about 15 minute before slicing as thinly as possibles to let the juices settle, or they'll be on your cutting board instead of in the meat.

Note: if after an hour, nothing much is happening according to your thermometer readout, heat the oven to 170ºF (Warm) and shut it off immediately when it reaches temperature. This may happen in a gas oven, or if your oven isn't well insulated.

8 to 10 servings.