Beef Roast

Dear Rushina,

Only you know how much I have missed roasting meat. The lack of a good oven as well as the cruel heat and humidity of Mumbai have kept me from indulging in one of my favourite past times. But then the long awaited monsoon arrived and I have found myself on more than one occasion, shivering from the rain and wind, reaching for my rain coat and even wearing a scarf. On one such rainy day, my sister and I found ourselves in Pali Hill (yes, we have sparkly red shoes that transport us to the meat shop when we click them together...I wish!) at that lovely area outside soul fry where all manner of vegetables and fruit (with a few stalls that also sell dubious looking pirated dvds) are sold. The minute my sister, still new to Mumbai, stepped out of the auto, she looked around and told me, "I don't know where you've brought me, but I want to live here forever." Smiling, I led her to Sante's, a lovely little store which manages to miraculously always have a steady supply of black ear mushrooms and dried seaweed. Having stocked up, we walked over to the meatshop next door and proceeded to raid their freezer.
Now finding a nice cut of beef is a little like finding the right pair of heels. One look and you just know that you're going to be the best of friends. And there it was, the most gorgeous onglet (from the flank) I had seen in my time of raiding meat freezers in Mumbai. Besides this, juicy looking pork loin chops, chicken, three packets of goan blood sausages, two packets of fatty bacon and ham were bought. Off we went home. The rains could be as tyrannical as they wished now, we had enough to do for a week.
Back home, I looked at all the food I had been hoarding and proceeded to make my long awaited beef roast. Here's how:)

Ingredients
11/2 kg of Beef Onglet
1 packet of fatty bacon
4 medium sized zucchini, cut into half and then quarter longitudinally
1 packet of baby corn
2 large white onions, quartered
1 fresh tangerine rind, grated
1 packet of Godrej Chicken liver, boil and mash
1 tbsp of fresh tarragon
1 tbsp of marjoram
1 tbsp of sage
2 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of butter
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
3 tbsp of brandy

Marinate beef with brandy and leave overnight

Take beef, cover with cheese cloth and pound till thin and flat

In a bowl, mix grated tangerine rind, herbs, pepper, salt and butter well. Take the paste and rub well over the beef.

Place bacon pieces on one side of the beef, and start rolling the meat. Tie meat roll well with thread and smear the remaining herb paste on the outside of the roll.
Place the beef roll in a pan, place onions, zucchini and baby corn around the roll.

Cover with foil and place in pre-heated Oven (400) for 40 mins. Take out and turn it over, cover and roast for another 10 minutes.
Take out beef roll from roasting pan, cover with foil and set aside to cool.

For the gravy,
In a medium sized pot, pour 1 cup of water, chicken liver paste and leftover contents in roasting pan. Place lid and cook well for 10 minutes.


To serve, slice beef roll and serve with gravy.



I hope you can see how much I enjoyed myself. I'm looking forward to my next visit to the meat shop:)