Rump roast

Rump roast and pumpkin mash

Dear reader,

Happy Saturday! I hope you’re well. 

After some unseasonal, although not unusual for Canberra, cold days, the sun was shining today! If you’re a first-time reader and from somewhere in the northern hemisphere of our amazing planet, I live in Canberra, the capital city of Australia.

Belconnen Owl Statue. Canberra’s best public art!

We’re continuing to see case numbers of COVID-19 rise in some jurisdictions while the growth slope in others is falling. Unfortunately, we’re now seeing the fatality numbers rise. I’m not impressed that healthcare professionals and politicians quip that the people dying are older or have comorbidities. These are humans who are dying. Most of the dead had families and friends who loved them and would mourn and grieve. I’m not getting any younger, and I have close friends who are vulnerable, or they have vulnerable children. I don’t want to mourn the loss of a friend or family member. I don’t want to grieve with a friend who loses a son or daughter.

Enough of the moroseness. I’ve had a great week, made better by the love and kindness of those who are closest to me.

Ingredients

  • Rump roast
  • Pumpkin
  • Sour cream
  • Marmalade
  • Instant gravy
  • Frozen peas

Instructions

  1. Undress the beef from its environmentally unfriendly see-through plastic.
  2. Dry the meat with absorbent paper.
  3. Season the roast with salt.
  4. Dry brine the roast in the refrigerator. (Preferably overnight).
  5. Heat the oven to 220 °C (200 °C fan-forced).
  6. Insert the meat thermometer deep into the flesh. Ram it in up to the root.
  7. Put the meat on a rack over a baking tray and put it into the oven.
  8. Set the cooking app according to how you want the beef finished off. I like my meat rare to medium-rare. I like it to be juicy with the meat juices flowing. It gives me a bit of a thrill to give it a poke and see the juices running from it.
  9. Cook at this temperature for 15 minutes to get the surface well browned.
  10. Reduce the temperature to 170 °C (150 °C fan-forced) and cook according to the instructions provided by the app associated with the thermometer.
  11. When instructed, remove from the dish, transfer to a carving board, cover with foil and rest according to the app before carving.
  12. Lovingly sharpen your carving knife (as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend Proverbs 27:17 NLT). I add this proverb because real friends are brave enough, to be honest with each other. That honesty is an expression of love. Honesty leads to growth and stronger relationships. I like that I can be honest with those who I love and cherish.
  13. When the meat is well-rested, carve the roast into slices. I like my beef to be thick and meaty. Resting the meat gives it an almost tumescent quality as the flesh retains its juices until you make your incision with your blade.
  14. Make the instant gravy according to the maker’s instructions. I nearly wrote “manufacturer’s instructions for use”. I’ve been using that phrase all week for advice I’ve been writing at work. I’m tired of writing it.
  15. Cut the pumpkin into small pieces and massage each chunk with some oil and marmalade.
  16. Place the pumpkin into the oven, which has been heated for the meat.
  17. When the pumpkin is soft, remove it from the oven, put it into a metal or glass bowl and begin to get a little rough with it. I use a fork, but you could use a dedicated masher or even a ricer. It depends on how you want your mash. I also leave the skin on for the extra fibre, and with all the mammal meat I eat, my bowels need all the dietary fibre I can consume.
  18. Season the mash with salt and pepper and add a dollop of sour cream. I also like some spring onions in my mash, whether made with pumpkin or spuds. I know some people like chives, but spring onions are more versatile for my cooking style. When I say cooking style, that’s overstating it. I don’t think I’m stylish at all.
  19. Cook the frozen peas. You can choose microwave radiation, boiling water, or bunging the peas into a skillet.
  20. Plate up the meal however you choose.
  21. Give thanks to the Lord.

How was the meal?

I feel like I’m in a bit of an afterglow with this meal. As I was cooking, I was thinking deeply about someone extraordinary.

When I make a mash, a lot depends on how I feel at the time. Sometimes I enjoy a more refined form of mash, almost pureed, and that’s when I’ll use a ricer or blender. Tonight I wanted something more rustic to match the rump roast.

Rump may not be as tender as ribeye; however, in my opinion, it has more flavour. While I never think of ribeye as insipid, roast rump has a more corporeal mouthfeel, and who doesn’t want corporeal mouthfeel? 😉

Final thoughts

  • How was your week?
  • What sort of mash do you like? Do you prefer potato or pumpkin? Do you enjoy them equally?
  • Do you like to treat your spuds or pumpkin a bit roughly or with tenderness for a smooth result?

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments or let me know via Twitter or Facebook. 

Slow cooker rump roast

Dear Reader,

Slow cooker Rump Roast with vegetables and gravy. Served with lentils, baby green peas, potato, and mushrooms.

It’s a cold, cloudy day in Canberra, with a maximum forecast temperature of eight degrees Celsius today. That’s 46 °F for any reader in the USA, Liberia, and Burma.

It felt like a good day to have the slow cooker on as well as the heating.

While grocery shopping this morning, I saw a nice lump of rump which looked like it would be perfect for this week’s meal planning.

I hope wherever you are, that you are warm and comfortable.

Have a good weekend.

Gaz

Ingredients

  • Rump roast
  • Barbecue sauce
  • White onion
  • Beef stock
  • Lentils
  • Potato
  • Instant gravy
  • Baby green peas

Instructions

Slow cooker

  1. Empty a tin of lentils into the cooking vessel.
  2. Lay the rump roast on the lentils.
  3. Cut a potato in half and place it into the cooking vessel.
  4. Cut the onion in half and put it into the cooking vessel.
  5. Squirt a good glug of barbecue sauce into the cooking vessel.
  6. Add a cup of beef stock to the cooking vessel.
  7. Cook for eight hours.

Baby green peas

  • Cook the frozen peas with microwave radiation.

Instant gravy

  • Prepare as per the instructions for use on the packaging.

Plating up

  1. Divide the rump into pieces for meal planning for the week. My plans include a pasta dish, some cold slices and salad for lunches, and perhaps a noodle soup.
  2. Divide the lentils and keep some aside for dinner putting the rest into a container.
  3. Slice a small piece of beef and put it onto a warmed dinner plate.
  4. Serve a spoon of lentils and the potato onto the dinner plate.
  5. Put the baby green peas onto the dinner plate.
  6. Pour the gravy over the meat and vegetables.
  7. Give thanks to the Lord for wages earned to buy food, cook food, and eat food to nourish my body and my enjoyment.

This week’s highlights in life

  • Work has been good. I remain blessed to work with amazing people. 
  • It’s reassuring to see people in Canberra more aware of their health and safety and cognisant that the δ (delta) variant must be respected. This week, I read a paper that revealed that the viral load associated with the δ variant is about 1000 times greater than with the original virus recovered from the beginning of the pandemic. Without wanting to be morbidly crass, I’m in awe of the biology of SARS-COV-2 and the ability of this virus and the infection it causes (COVID-19) to change and adapt. I’m sure if I wasn’t in a sequestered, safe bubble, like Canberra, I’d be feeling more anxious and worried. ^
  • It’s been worrying seeing what has been happening in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland.
  • I started reading John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation. This book is a collection of three of Owen’s seminal works on the “Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers”, “Of Temptation: The Nature and Power of It”, and “The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of Indwelling Sin”. It’s a challenging read in a couple of ways. Owen writes in an archaic style, and the subject matter penetrates deeply. 
  • I’m also reading Tim Keller’s Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. The two works are complementary, in my opinion.
  • I received a bunch of fresh free-range eggs from a friend this week. Fresh eggs are the best!

Final thoughts

  • Have you enjoyed fresh free-range eggs? How do you like to cook them?
  • How have you been coping this week with the pandemic?
  • Are you in an area where the δ variant is circulating in your community?
  • What’s the weather like where you are at the moment? Let me know in the comments how you’re enjoying the weather (or not).

^The Bible App I use today presented me with Proverbs‬ 12:25‬. (‭ESV)‬‬

“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”