Don't forget me. Love, Sir Loin

Have we fallen out of love with the once grand sirloin of beef then? I truly do hope we haven't. It's still a decent piece of meat I get great enjoyment from, and continue to be able to use it in all manner of preparations - from dicing it for burritos to the perfect steak sandwich meat. I cooked a decent piece for lunch yesterday, in the fashion below, and was really most pleasantly happy with the outcome indeed. This would be great with a lovely creamy purée of parsnips or some braised silver beets or Swiss chard, but yesterday I slow roasted some split unpeeled shallots in the beef juices, garlic and thyme, and plopped it on a cauliflower purée. 

The perfect amount left over for some cold roast beef sandwiches for lunch today. Watercress, English mustard and a scraping of mayonnaise on white bread. Leftovers are King. Sir Loin rocks.

Sirloin pot-roasted with bay, garlic and red wine vinegar

Serves 4-6

1 kg whole sirloin of beef
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tblsp olive oil, for browning
55g butter
10 fresh bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
375 ml Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar

Trim the fat on the piece of beef to about 2cm thick. Using a sharp knife, cut a criss-cross pattern at 1cm intervals across the fat. Season lightly with salt, but add plenty of pepper.

Heat oil in a large heavy-based flameproof pot., add the beef and brown on all sides, leaving the fatty side until last. Reduce the heat and slowly brown the fat. Remove the beef from the pot and drain off the fat.

Melt the butter in the pot until foaming and then add the beef. Add the bay leaves, garlic and 5 tablespoons of vinegar. Moisten a piece of baking paper large enough to cover the pot.

Push the damp paper into the pot to rest on and cover the beef entirely. Simmer over a low heat until the vinegar reduces by half. Add a little more vinegar and when that reduces, add a little more.

Continue in this way until the beef is cooked to medium, for about 50-70 minutes. The sauce should never completely reduce because you are trying to create an emulsion. Add water, if necessary.

Turn off the heat and rest for 10 minutes. Slice the beef and serve. Spoon the sauce over the beef and garnish with bay leaves and garlic.

Random but pretty, this is what the soup looked like before the soup was added. If you're still with me, more on that soon...