mellayhumans' cookery corner

This week I made delicious rare beef.Buy the best joint you can afford, topside of beef will do though but it must have a good cylindrical shape. Cover the joint liberally with maldon sea salt and cracked black pepper. Make sure you rub it in.In a very hot pan with a little oil, seal each face of the joint, moving it around ever so slowly till the whole thing is golden brown.Now the clever bit. Wrap the whole joint very tightly in cling film and put it in a cool (150 degree) oven. A large 3kg joint needs about one hour and forty minutes to be pink pink pink. A smaller joint you will have to keep an eye on and the only wayto tell is to cut it open and have a look, please also be aware that it carries on cooking after removal from the oven and you must not overcook it. Now reduce some red wine by half with some redcurrant jelly and add all the juice which dripped from the joint. Let this gorgeous meaty jus reduce while you cook the veg. Slice the beef ever so thinly as you can and pour over the hot jus.Serve with horseradish, mashed swede and carrot with lots of butter, roast potatoes and parsnips and some greens. Delicious

Note, all my measures and times are approximate, use common sense and taste as you go! Cooking is not an exact science. (Apart from patisserie which nobody likes)