Brisket roast - used, then rebranded

So many of the tastiest cuts of beef are the cheapest ones. With beef in particular, there is always a trade-off between tenderness and taste. Let me introduce you to the Brisket - one of the tastiest cuts of all, and cheap as cheap.
The point end brisket is what you ask the butcher for. Generally it's about 2 kilograms, but can be more. You want the whole thing - and it wants you.

What you get is a boneless slab of meat that, cooked long and low, makes the tastiest roast, with leftovers that make excellent sandwiches and rebranding.

This week's roast fed me and my two boys two main meals and two lunches. The second meal (which we ate last night) was a very successful piece of meal rebranding.

I have a slow cooker, which I love, and which uses much, much electricity than an oven. If you're using an oven, you will need a roasting pan with a good heavy lid that seals properly.

Recipe: Rolled roast brisket.

Ingredients

• Cooking string
• Tip end brisket
• Rosemary
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 Lemons
• Garlic clove
• 2 Onions
• Half cup red wine
• Olive oil

Method

• Chop rosemary and combine with juice of one lemon, crushed garlic, salt, pepper and about 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Rub the marinade onto the brisket all over.
• Cut three or four pieces of kitchen string about 30 cm each.
• To tie the rolled up beef, any old knot will do, but here is how you tie the very simple and handy butcher's knot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW5mZD2kBEU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
• Place the beef flat on a tray or clean bench, and roll from the pointy end, with with the rough side of the beef in the inside of the roll. Tie with the lengths of string about 3 cm apart. Cover and place in fridge overnight. It's really good if you can marinate the beef, but even if you can't you will still have a beautiful tender roast.
• Preheat oven to 110 degrees.
• Peel and quater onions, leaving enough for the woody end above the roots to hold the onion together. Wash and quater the remaining lemon.
• Pour off excess marinade into a pan with extra olive oil. Bring pan to high heat and sear all around. Remove to a roasting pan (or place in your slow cooker). 
• Now sear the onion and lemon quarters. Place these in the pan too. Add wine to pan to pick up all the pan flavours, and pour into roasting tray (or slow cooker). Cook covered for 7 hours.

When I use my slow cooker, this leaves my oven free to roast the veggies in a conventional way. If you're using the oven to roast the beef, that's ok. Bring out the covered tray and let it rest, pop up the heat, roast your veggies, and by the time they are ready, your roast will be rested, warm, juicy, and ready to carve.

You will also have about 4 cups of very good beef stock. 1 cup for gravy, the rest for the freezer.

On Thursday I made this with roast potatoes, carrots, oinions, pumpkin and turnips. And some steamed silver-beet.

The boys weren't too keen on the turnip and would only eat one small piece each. Last night, they ate the rest.

Recipe rebranding

Last night I retrieved the leftover veggies (including leftover silver-beet) from the fridge, ready to do a little re-branding. I chopped and mashed them up and put them in a layer in a roasting dish. Diced the roast beef and collected the jelly juices, and placed them on top of the veggie layer. Covered it, and put it in the oven at 100 degrees.

While this was warming, I steamed 1 cup of basmati rice with 1.5 cups of water and .5 cup of my all purpose tomato salsa. In 45 minutes, the rice had absorbed the moisture, and the colour and flavour of the salsa.

Raised the oven temperature to 200 degrees. Removed the roasting dish, and place the rice in a thick layer on top. Popped it back in the oven to get nice and crunchy on top, which takes about 10 minutes.

Then it was ready to serve - a rich red-brown and crisp on top, and juicy and sweet in the middle.

The whole thing got eaten, including all that rejected turnip from the night before.