Just a Plain Beef Roast

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

If you want your beef with very little fuss, try a simple beef roast. A little thyme, some salt and pepper (and a good piece of beef naturally) is all you need. Picking the piece of beef is the trickiest part. The most elegant choice is a tenderloin roast, which is lean and tender but very expensive. This is where filet mignon comes from. Another good choice would be a rib-eye roast, also called a Delmonico roast. This is where rib-eye steaks come from.

More reasonably priced candidates for a simple roast beef are a top loin roast, top sirloin butt roast and a tri-tip roast. Round roasts and rump roasts can work, but they can be a little tougher. Stay away from the chuck roasts, arm roasts, blade roasts and pot roasts. These can make for a good meal, but they need to be braised (i.e. cooked in liquid) for hours to make them tender.

Grass-fed beef, due to it lack of fat, needs to be cooked differently as is reflected in the recipe below.

A 2 to 2 ½ pound beef roast (tri-tip is perfect for this) 

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme

For grass fed beef

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Combine one teaspoon salt, one teaspoon ground black pepper and one teaspoon of thyme and sprinkle evenly over the roast.
3. Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for about 2 hours.
4. Place roast on a rack in shallow roasting pan. Do not add water and do not cover.
5. Cook for about 20 minutes, then check the temperature. Remove it at 120° F for rare, 125° F of medium rare and 130°F for medium.
6. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving

For supermarket beef

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Combine one teaspoon salt, one teaspoon ground black pepper and one teaspoon of thyme and sprinkle evenly over the roast.
3. Place roast on a rack in shallow roasting pan. Do not add water and do not cover.
4. Roast for 30 (rare), 35 (medium rare) or 40 minutes (medium). Remove the roast when a meat thermometer inserted in thickest part reads 120° for rare, 125°F for medium rare or 130° for medium.
5. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.