Recipe: Roast Top Round with Sweet Potatoes and Shallots

ROAST TOP ROUND WITH SWEET POTATOES AND SHALLOTS

"For those who claim they come home from work too tired to cook, this is the ideal recipe. You can walk in the door at 5:30, preheat the oven, season the meat, slice the sweet potatoes, and sit down to eat by 6:45."

2 teaspoons olive oil, divided use
1 (2 to 3-pound) beef top round
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried
3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
4 medium-size shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
Freshly ground black pepper
2 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 2-inch-thick slices
Salt (to taste)
1/2 to 3/4 cup dry red or white wine, divided use

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Use 1 teaspoon oil to grease the bottom of a large roasting pan. Place the beef in the pan and rub with remaining oil. Sprinkle with half the thyme, sage, garlic and shallots. Season with a generous grinding of pepper.

Surround the beef with the sweet potato slices; sprinkle with remaining herbs, garlic and shallots and season with salt and pepper. Pour 1/2 cup of the wine around (not on top of) the beef.

Roast the beef and sweet potatoes, basting every 20 minutes or so and adding the remaining cup of wine if necessary, until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F for medium rare beef, about 1 hour.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven and let the beef and sweet potatoes sit in the pan, loosely covered with aluminum foil, for 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer the beef to a carving board and the sweet potatoes to a warm bowl. Cut the meat into thin slices. Remove any excess fat from the pan and pour the pan juices and bits of garlic and shallots on top of the beef.

Makes 4 to 6 servings
Adapted from source: Roasting: The Simple Cooking Technique for Food That's Bursting With Flavor by Kathy Gunst