Fat Pom Pom: Jamie Oliver's Roast Beef, Little Carrots, Crispy Potatoes and Super Quick Gravy

Another successful attempt at Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals!

Over the weekend, I tried another recipe from my Jamie Oliver's 30 Minutes Meals book! (Finally making good use of the book hehe)

We decided to go for the Roast Beef, Small Carrots, Crispy Potatoes and Super Quick Gravy! We left out the Yorkies and the Salad. I really wanted to make Yorkies because I have never tried them before but I thought we might keep it simple since there was only me and my boyfriend!

We varied the method of cooking abit because we had more time then the usual 30 minutes hehe beside I quite enjoy the cooking process as much as the eating part!! hehe like with the potatoes, I felt there would be so much more flavour if I roasted them in the oven rather then pan fry them!

The meal turned out beautiful and super delicious!!!! The Roast beef wasn't so much roasted hehe (since we didn't even put it in the oven) but the flavours were so delicious and the gravy made you believe you were eating roast beef hehe the potatoes were so crispy and smelt of wonderful roasted herbs and garlic!! The carrots were absolute adorable and was the perfect compliment to the whole dish!

Armed with his Nikon DSLR camera and massive lens, my boyfriend snapped away and was able to capture some really awesome shots throughout the whole night!! I hope you guys like the pictures as much as I did : )

We also bought a loaf of French Bread we thought might be useful for mopping up the gravy hehe we didn't end up eating much of it because there was already alot of food for two people, and also for some reason I felt the bread tasted like 'Pocky' that day hehe my boyfriend thought the same hehe

All and all, the recipe was really easy to follow and the flavour of Jamie's cooking is always plenty and wonderful!!! It took longer then 30 minutes but was definitely worth it and I will be making it again!!! With Yorkies next time hehe

Here is the recipe!

For the potatoes:
500g red-skinned potatoes, very small ones
1 small lemon (peels of zest only)
4 sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary
1 bulb of garlic

For the beef:
8 sprigs each of fresh rosemary, sage and thyme
700g fillet of beef (there was only two of us so I used a thick quality cut of Porterhouse and it worked out beautiful also)

For the carrots:
500g small carrots (I couldn't find any small carrots in my local supermarket so I was feeling a little creative that night and decided to carve my own little carrots from the large ones, I manage to make 4 small carrots from 1 large one :)

2 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 fresh bay leaves
1 heaped tablespoon caster sugar
A knob of butter

For the gravy:
½ a red onion, finely sliced
12 baby button mushrooms, chopped
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
1 small wineglass of red wine
300ml chicken stock
a knob of butter

To serve:
Crusty bread, sliced and toasted in the oven

Creamed horseradish sauce (I couldn't find this one so I had only English mustard...still awesome though!!)
English mustard

Method

Wash the potatoes, leaving the skins on. Chop in half and throw into one of the large frying pans. Cover with boiling water, season with salt and cover with a lid. Turn the heat to high and parboil for about 5 minutes.

Drain the potatoes and pour into a baking tray. Drizzle over some olive oil, season with salt and pepper, a few lemon peels, 4 sprigs of thyme or rosemary (I used thyme). Halve the bulb of garlic widthways, squash each half with the back of a knife and add to the pan. Toss everything together and roast in the oven at 200 degrees C until golden and crispy (about 20-30 minutes)

Place the carrots into the saucepan and just cover with boiling water. Add 2 sprigs of thyme, a couple of bay leaves, a good pinch of salt, a splash of olive oil and 1 heaped tablespoon of sugar. Cook with a lid on until tender. Drain once cooked.

Finely chop all the herbs for the beef. Mix the herbs together and spread them around the chopping board with a good pinch of salt & pepper. Cut the fillet in half lengthways, then roll each piece back and forth so they are completely coated in herbs. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a hot frying pan and add the meat. Cook the meat to medium rare, a few minutes in each side! Don’t forget to seal the ends.

To make gravy, reduce the heat of the frying pan and add the onion to one side of the frying pan with a splash of olive oil, and then add the mushrooms. Stir everything around. Once the meat is cooked to your liking, remove the meat from the frying pan and rest on a plate. Lightly cover with foil to retain the heat.

Stir 1 heaped tablespoon of flour into the pan. Add a small glass of red wine and turn the heat up. Boil down to nearly nothing, then stir in 300ml of chicken stock and simmer until thick and shiny. Add a knob of butter at the end.

My little carrots are sauteing away in butter!

Mmmmm...crispy golden potatoes!

Add the carrots back to a small pan and toss with butter until coated. Take the potatoes out the oven and serve in the tray. Smear 2 spoonfuls of horseradish sauce and 1 teaspoon of English mustard on to another platter. Quickly slice the beef 1cm thick, using long carving motions. Sprinkle over a pinch of salt & pepper from a height, then pile the beef on top of the horseradish sauce and mustard. Add any resting juices to the gravy and serve in a jug.

Enjoy.