If you’re like me you have had your share of overcooked, dried out and flavorless food. It is a right of passage, a learning experience… we eat bad food and it makes us want to try to do it better. I know so many people come here looking for inspiration and tips for feeding good food to their families. And with times as tough as they are for folks these days I wanted to share some new ways that you can feed your family well for not so much money. Many of these ideas break with my eat local, eat seasonal philosophy but the truth is…not everyone can make that comittment and my overall goal with our blog and website has also been to educate and share ideas to brings families together through growing, cooking and sharing the results.

Of all the meals that strike fear in hearts I think Eye of Round is the worst. This is a cut of meat that can go from bad to worse in record time. However, it is a flavorful and very reasonably priced cut of meat.

Eye of Round is the most tender of three cuts derived from a Primal cut from the hind quarter. The other cuts are commonly known as London Broil and Bottom Round, we will explore those in later meals. The Eye of Round I purchased came from Maines on Front Street in Binghamton, NY. It was $2.19 per pound for the approximately 5-1/2 pound cut we purchased…$12.12 total.

Now on to the prep…

First things first. Do not cut a single scrap of fat off of this cut. It needs all it can get. Forget about braising or low slow ovens too. You need to blast this cut in the oven and because I am using a convection oven to roast I am not going to give you a cooking time. I want you to get used to the feel of the meat as it cooks and also using your meat thermometer. Ovens vary so widely that it is fruitless to give you cooking times. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

I placed my roast in t a 13 x 9 Pyrex baking  pan (my roasting pan has disappeared during the kitchen/panty remodel) and drizzled it with about 3 tablespoons of Olive oil. Next I made a blend of about 4 tablespoons fresh Rosemary, 1 tablespoon black whole peppercorns, two cloves of chopped garlic and two tablespoons of coarse Kosher Salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. I crush them using a mortar and pestle. You can use a coffee grinder too, but remember to pulse them briefly…we aren’t looking for a paste.

Now sprinkle the spice blend over your meat and rub it over all the sides to coat evenly.

If you are using a electric probe type meat thermometer (this is the type I use) insert it now so the probe end is in the center of the roast. Place the roast into the oven. You’re roast will be in the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes per pound for a rare roast. And you aren’t going to want to cook this cut much past rare.

While the roast cooked I cut up some nice red potatoes and spinkled them with the remaining spices and a drizzle of olive oil and popped them into the oven with the roast.

Remove the roast when the center reaches 130 degrees. This will give you a nicely cooked roast with a rare center and medium rare end cuts.Cover the roast with foil and let is rest for about 15-20 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the potatoes in to keep them warm. This would be a good time to make some nice peas or a quick tossed salad.

Untent your roast and cut into the first quarter of the roast. Leave as much whole as you can so it retains it juices. Slice your cut into thin slices by cutting across the grain of the meat.

Add about a 1/2 cup of red wine (I used our own Cabernet Sauvignon) to deglaze your roasting pan. Add to a saucepan to reheat and serve with your roast.

So there have dinner for four…for about a whopping $7.00!!!! Yes, you read that right…$7.00 for beef roast, potatoes and peas!!! That’s about $1.75 per person.

But what to do with the remaining 3 plus pounds? What CAN’T you do! Just put the remaining whole piece of beef in the fridge and slice it thinly for sandwiches. Roast beef at the deli is around $7.99+ per pound so you can see the savings add up quickly now can’t you? Slice some for fajitas or to add to rice and vegetables. Have steak and egg breakfast burritos for the kids. Use your imagination to see how far you can take this and please share your comments here with me. I would love to hear them!

Colleen Cheechalk
The Farm at Nanticoke Creek
www.farmatnanticokecreek.com