Roast beef

Perhaps the most distressing thing about shopping at the butcher counter at Whole Foods is when I ask the person behind the counter whether they have a top round roast and she looks at me like I'm a Martian with horns sprouting out of my head. I don't mind that English isn't her first language but I would like it if I could ask for a cut of meat and she has a clue what I'm talking about.

You can read anything you like in a cookbook about which cut of meat is ideal for a certain dish, but given the streamlined situation at supermarket butcher counters and the absence of any alternatives, you literally take pot luck when you go shopping for it. There have been a couple of sporadic attempts at setting up gourmet butcher shops in DC but their offering is even spottier than in the supermarket.

Long story short, I had to settle for what I could find on my own to follow Molly Stevens roasting technique for top round. In this case, it was a 2 lb. bottom round roast in a package. When I got home I found out of course that bottom round is much less desirable than top round. Stevens says if you attempt to use bottom round she can only recommend that you roast it very slowly and cut it very thin. In his River Cottage Meat Book, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says bottom round is suitable only for a slow pot roast.

I counted on the WF grass-fed beef being good enough quality to try oven roasting anyway. So I salted and peppered it, seared it in a cast iron skillet as instructed by Stevens, and popped it in a 250-degree oven until it reached 125 degrees. I sliced it very thin and surprise, surprise, it was delicious.

To accompany, I used a Sarah Jenkins recipe I've been wanting to try for tahini roasted cauliflower. You just roast the cauliflower florettes at 400 degrees for 45 min. then toss them along with chopped parsley in a dressing of tahini paste, water, garlic, lemon juice. Very, very tasty. We'll do more tahini vegetables, I think.

Update: Great roast beef leftovers, too. Whipped up the horseradish sauce Stevens has in the recipe -- heavy cream, creme fraiche, prepared horseradish, dry mustard, squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper. Also got a nice tomato salad variation from Epicurious -- sliced tomato sprinkles with salt, pepper, capers and pieces of basil, drizzled with a shallot vinaigrette.