Rory O'Connell's Roast Sirloin of Beef with Creamed Corn and Pickled Red Onions from his award-winning cookbook, Cook Well, Eat Well.
Ingredients
The combination of the creamy corn purée spiked with hot chilli and cooling lime acts as a good foil for the rich beef. The pickled onions, which can be prepared hours or days ahead, lighten and enliven the whole dish.
Roast Sirloin of Beef
Serves: 6–8
The sirloin of beef on the bone is a fantastic cut and somewhat easier to carve than the more traditional wing rib. This is another of those cuts of meat that will be best if ordered from your butcher a bit in advance so as to give your butcher time to put aside a piece of properly hung beef for you.
Like most cuts of meat, especially the larger ones, the roast will sit quite happily for at least half an hour after cooking. I often use a grilled steak or hamburger in place of the roast beef in this recipe.
- 2.5kg sirloin of beef on the bone
- sea salt and freshly ground
- black pepper
To serve
- creamed corn
- pickled red onions
- rustic roast potatoes with balsamic
- butter
Creamed Corn
Serves: 6–8
I prefer to use fresh summer corn in this dish but I have also made it with cooked frozen corn and the result was excellent, so this dish can be a year-round possibility.
The corn can be prepared early in the day or even the previous day if you wish. It will thicken a little when prepared in advance, but I add some chicken stock, vegetable stock or water to it when reheating and it works perfectly.
- 4 cooked ears of corn
- 50g butter
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 medium-hot chilli, deseeded and coarsely chopped
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 175ml sour cream
- 120ml chicken stock
Pickled Red Onions
Makes: 1 jar
These piquant onions could not be much simpler. Apart from serving them with the beef and corn purée in this meal, I also serve them with a beef or lamb burger, with a sharp Cheddar cheese, with smoked or marinated fish and with most cold roast meats.
- 2 red onions, peeled and very thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons cider, red wine or white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar pinch of salt
Method
- Begin by preparing the corn purée and pickled onions.
Pickled Red Onions
- Preheat the grill to high or your oven to 250°C or as hot as it will go.
- Mix all the ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl and allow the onions to wilt, which will take about 30 minutes. The onions will keep covered in the fridge for weeks.
Creamed Corn
- Cut the kernels off the cooked ears of corn and place on a roasting tray. Add the butter, lime juice (I put the squeezed rinds on the tray too) and the chopped chilli and season with salt and pepper.
- Mix everything together and spread out to cover the tray.
- Place under a hot grill or in your hottest oven and cook for about 15 minutes, until the corn is getting charred. I stir the contents of the tray a couple of times during the cooking time to ensure the corn colours evenly.
- When the corn is sufficiently coloured, remove the lime rinds and squeeze the soft pulp back onto the corn. Scrape the contents of the tray into a blender with the sour cream and chicken stock.
- Blend to a slightly coarse purée, then taste and correct the seasoning. The corn reheats perfectly, but you may need to add a little more chicken stock or water to loosen the mixture.
Roast Sirloin of Beef
- Preheat the oven to 240°C.
- Lightly score the fat on the surface of the beef, then place on a roasting tin and season the beef with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes before reducing the temperature to 180°C and cooking the beef to your liking.
- A roast of this size will need to cook for a further 35 minutes for rare, 45 minutes for medium and 75 minutes for well done.
- When the beef is cooked, remove it from the oven and reduce the temperature again to 100°C. Allow to rest and keep warm in the low oven for at least 15minutes and up to 1 hour before carving.
To serve, reheat the corn purée to a bubble and spread it out over hot plates. Place one or two slices of beef on top and scatter over a few pickled onions.
Finish with a drizzle of any beef cooking juices and a sprinkle of sea salt and serve immediately with the rustic roast potatoes on the side.
