Meat market

As Anthony Puharich reaches for the rump, Colin Fassnidge discovers his cultured side. The result? A French-influenced Sunday roast that’s light on the washing-up but big on Gallic style.

Colin and Anthony shake up the rump roast.

A I don’t want to do slow-roasted lamb shoulder or whatever. So I picked beef rump. I wanted a pot roast.

C I’ll do tray roasting. Parsnips, carrots, potatoes, rosemary, thyme, garlic, onion, all layered in the roasting tray. Add some stock, some parmesan rinds. Seal the rump, then put it on top of the potatoes and bake it in the oven so all the juice in the meat soaks into this bake and the stock goes in too. Like dauphinoise. No, a boulangere.

A Aren’t the vegetables going to be all soggy?

C No! They’re sliced thin. Just like a mille-feuille. A So French this month. C I’m cultured! A [snorts] C Then you take the beef off the veg, you rest it, you put it back in the oven, high temperature, so it goes crisp on the outside and stays juicy in the middle.

A I reckon you’ve gone bonkers. I think we can do better.

C Fine, add horseradish over the top. It’s like a Sunday roast – meat and three veg in one tray!

A Okay, okay! Well it’s a great cut of meat for it. You can choose different-sized rumps for however many people you’re feeding. An average rump is about 5-6 kilos; that’ll feed about 15 people. Or you use the cap, which is the best part. It’s about 1.5 kilos, so that will feed about 6- 8 people. Or if you are really smart – which you’re not – you ask for the point end of the rump. It’s about 2-2.5 kilos, which will feed about 10-12 people. You’re working on about 250 grams per person start weight. C Meat, three veg, one tray! A Yes, you said that. I liked the idea of doing rump. Because it’s inexpensive. I just had my heart set on pot roast, but then you did that last month with the duck. So now we have a tray.

C Tray magnifique!

ONE-TRAY ROAST BEEF SERVES 12-14

Begin this recipe 3 hours ahead.

4.5kg beef rump (or choose weight based on Anthony’s suggestions) 2kg desiree potatoes 4 each carrots and parsnips 2 onions, thinly sliced 1/ 3 cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil 1 bunch thyme, leaves picked 100g salted butter, chopped 1 garlic bulb, halved horizontally 4 rosemary stalks 4 cups (1L) beef stock 2 parmesan rinds (optional) Finely grated horseradish (optional), to serve

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Place beef, fat-side down, in a 30cm x 40cm flameproof roasting pan over high heat and cook, turning, for 15 minutes or until evenly browned. Set aside.

Very thinly slice potatoes, carrots and parsnips into rounds using a mandoline (or the slicer attachment on a food processor) into a large bowl. Add onion, oil and thyme, and toss to coat.

Transfer vegetable mixture to cleaned roasting pan and stack slices in 2 rows along each of the longest sides of pan. Scatter with butter. Add garlic and half the rosemary to the middle of the pan and add stock and parmesan rinds, if using. Top with beef and roast, basting with cooking juices every 30 minutes and covering with foil if meat becomes too dark, for 2 hours 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of beef reads 60-65°C for medium-rare, or until cooked to your liking. Add remaining rosemary in last 30 minutes of beef cooking time to roast until crisp.

Remove beef from pan and set aside, loosely covered with foil, to rest. Using a ladle, carefully transfer pan juices to a saucepan over high heat, bring to the boil and cook for 10-15 minutes or until reduced by two-thirds.

When ready to serve, increase oven to 220°C. Return beef to pan with veg and cook for 10 minutes to crisp up and reheat. Finely grate over horseradish, if using, and serve with reduced cooking juices.

BUTCHER’S CUT BEEF RUMP

Full flavoured and inexpensive, beef rump is at its best braised or roasted, while the more tender eye of the rump is great cut into steaks and barbecued. The cut of meat varies depending on where you are in the world: North American rump cuts come from the hindmost section of the cow; in the rest of the English-speaking world, the rump is taken from just above the hip bone. Rest cooked rump for a few minutes before serving to ensure maximum juiciness.