I knew when I got up this morning that it was gonna be a beef-for-dinner day. I could handle leftover turkey soup one more time for lunch, but dinner was gonna be beef.
I went perusing through past issues of La Cucina Italiana magazine and came upon a recipe that sounded extremely intriguing – wrapping a roast in parchment paper.
I decided to give it a try!
Like so many of the La Cucina recipes, the ingredients were few and the cooking style slightly unique.
The basic premise is to make a paste of lardo – a cured meat made from the layer of fat found directly under the pig’s skin – garlic, parsley, and a couple other ingredients, rub it onto the roast, wrap the roast in parchment, tie it, and roast it. Not really very difficult.
Lardo-Studded Roast Beef
- 3 1/2 ounces lardo or guanciale
- 2 tsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp brandy
- 1 (3 1/2-pound) eye of round beef roast, excess fat trimmed
- potatoes cut into 1-inch wedges
- 4 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces
- olive oil
parchment paper; kitchen string
Heat oven to 400° with racks in upper and lower thirds.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine lardo, parsley, garlic, peppercorns, paprika, cinnamon, and brandy; blend to a smooth paste.
Make about 12 x-shaped incisions about 2-inches deep all over the roast; stuff each with about 1 teaspoon paste. Rub roast all over with remaining paste and season with salt.
Roll roast in a sheet of parchment paper and fold and tuck ends under. Tie up the roast at 1-inch intervals with kitchen string. Place roast in a baking dish and cook in lower third of oven for 30 minutes.
In a roasting pan, toss potatoes, carrots and celery with oil and salt to taste.
Put vegetables in upper third of oven and continue to cook roast and vegetables until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of roast registers 130° for medium-rare, about 45 minutes more.
Remove roast from oven (leaving vegetables in oven to finish cooking while roast rests) and let rest 15 minutes. Discard string from roast, slice roast into 1/3-inch-thick slices and serve with vegetables.
I did more pressing than spreading, but it worked. The goal is to try and cover the meat.
I buy full-sheet parchment paper by the case because I use so much of it. One full-sized sheet worked perfectly.
The vegetables were total simplicity.
And an hour later…
I actually over-cooked the beef for my liking, but it still was tasty.
I really should have checked it sooner, but I was relying on the clock rather than then thermometer. Next time I’ll pay closer attention.
But I have to tell ya – the cooking method really rocked! The beef was juicy-tender with tons of flavor. And the whole house smelled great.
Just what I was looking for!