Sunday Roast Dinner

Growing up, we usually had a nice roast dinner on Sunday nights.  My Grandpa would come over and there was almost always dessert too.  John and I have enjoyed making Sunday Roast a tradition in our home as well.  Before we get into recipes and pictures, I have to admit I did not do the cooking this past Sunday.  John and I have developed a cooking labour division that is unspoken, yet works well for us.  I do roast chicken, he does roast beef,  I do baking, he does barbecuing, I do lasagna, he does spaghetti sauce, I do dessert, he does gravy, I do the whining, he does the "yes dear"-ing.  A well oiled marital machine to say the least.
In any case, John made a fantastic Roast Beef Sunday dinner with all the trimmings.  I did not do dessert (for shame!), I went sledding with the boys instead.  And by sledding I mean standing at the top of the hill cringing in fear and shouting "Be Careful!" everytime they shot down the hill.  When we got back home the smell of the roast cooking was pure heaven, I highly reccomend you do this dinner, this Sunday.

From John:

Roast Beef

1 Good Quality Roast (Top Sirloin, Prime Rib, Tenderloin)
Make a paste with 1/3 cup of lard (tenderflake, crisco etc.), 1 tablespoon each of dried mustard powder and Montreal steak spice and spread it on top of the roast.  Peel two or three onions and cut in a cross about 1 cm deep on each end. 

 Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes per pound of meat.  A meat thermometer will allow you to get the exact wellness you prefer (of course proper roast beef is cooked rare).When the roast is done to your liking, remove from the pan and set aside on a platter covered in foil to rest.  Remove the onions (you can serve them with dinner) and heat the drippings on the stove top.  If there is a lot of non-fat liquid, you can cook it down for a while. 

When the remaining fat is hot, make a roux using white flower (don't make it too dry) then begin adding beef stock in small increments whisking as you go.  Eventually you will have wonderful gravy.

Yorkshire Puddings

A roast beef dinner is not complete without them.

1 cup white flour
1 1/4 cups milk
3 eggs
pinch of salt
Several grinds of black pepper.
Vegetable oil

Whisk all the ingredients together to create a thin batter. Use either a muffin pan or a cake pan. Pour vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the cake pan or each of the muffin spaces.  55 minutes before eating place the tin in the oven to heat the oil.  45 minutes before eating, take the tin out of the oven and pour batter into it (all into a cake pan or about a third of a cup into each muffin space). Do this quickly.  Put it back into the oven and bake 45 minutes.  Protip:  Put the muffin or cake tin on a cookie sheet to keep oil from spilling onto the bottom of your oven.

Mashed Potatoes

You can mak 'em how you like 'em, but I reccomend yellow potatoes (Yukon gold).  When cooked add butter (the more the better) and a drop or two of milk.  Beat with a hand mixer until smooth.  I like to add pepper too.

Well folks, now you have the master's tricks, hope you all have a go at Sunday Roast Dinner!  And yes, it was damn good.
Happy Cooking!