Red Wine Wagyu Beef Roast with Beetroot Puree and Mustard Leaves

Red Wine Wagyu Beef Roast with Beetroot Puree and Mustard Leaves

Wagyu beef. Fancy paying $60 for a New York cut, or $120 for a sirloin? I’ve totally given up on expensive cuts of meat, and mortgaging my house for that tasty looking steak is no longer appealing. Gone away are the days of summer pan frying, and here to stay is tasty, slow,winter roasting. That’s why, when I saw $15 a kilo special wagyu Beef roast at the David Jones Food Hall, I couldn’t but go for it. Not that it is normally much more expensive, usually at $19 a kilo, but a 25% discount is not something I could pass.

Wagyu beef roast from David Jones, yet to be cooked

The roast David Jones sells is vacuum packed, which is not ideal, but the meat is of high quality, well handled, and has lovely marbling, though much less than the more expensive cuts. Treated well, it will provide with a more satisfying meal than any steak, and my intention was to treat it very well.

To this blog, wagyu Beef Roast holds a special place, as it was the subject of my first ever blog entry (view here). As I did back then, the beef was cooked slowly for 2.5 hours and the turned out great. My dinner guests were my friends Lili from Pikelet and Pie (a must see blog) and Eddie from Kunstler. I’d been to Eveleigh Markets earlier in the day and had bought a bunch of beetroot and bitey mustard leaves. The end result was a moist, tender roast with a sweet, smooth beetroot puree with the peppery (or mustardy?) mustard leaves.

I would love to tell you to go out and buy yourselves some of DJ’s wagyu beef roast, that it makes for the best roast ever, that the meat is succulent, juicy and full flavoured. But the reality of the matter is, the more people buying the roast, the more expensive it will get (higher demand, less supply, higher prices, basic economics really), and the less affordable it will be for me, and I might have to go back mortgaging my valuables for a tasty cut of meat.

Wagyu Beef Roast fresh out of the oven

Red Wine Wagyu Beef Roast with Beetroot Puree and Mustard Leaves

The Roast

• 1 Kilo Wagyu Beef Roast
• Salt
• Pepper
• Bicarbonate of Soda
• Vegetable Oil

Method

• The beef needs to be out of the fridge at least 3 hours before cooking
• Heat heavy based pan until very hot, for 10 minutes
• Rub the beef with vegetable oil, salt and pepper thoroughly and sprinkle with sodium bicarbonate, very sparingly (1/4 tsp). The baking soda increases the occurrence of the Maillard reaction by changing the PH value of the meat, which means the meat browns beautifully
• Sear the meat on all sides until wonderfully golden
• Place the roast in a roasting pan and into a preheated oven at 125 C for 2.5 hours
• Remove, rest for 10 – 15 minutes, carve and serve

Beautifully moist slices of just done wagyu roast

The Red Wine Sauce

• 3 kilos of beef or veal bones for stock
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 4 celery sticks, chopped
• 2 onions, quartered
• 10 peppercorns
• 10 fresh bay leaves
• 1 bottle of good, but cheap red wine
• Sugar, to taste, approx 2 tspns
• 3 tbspns of unsalted butter
• Salt, to taste

Method

• In a stock pot, fry bones in portions until golden brown and remove
• Deglaze the pot with a cup of water, loosening all tasty bits stuck to the bottom
• Replace the bones
• Add the remaining carrots, onions, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns and top with wine
• Add enough cold water to cover everything
• Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 hours
• Remove all bones and vegetables and run the liquid through a fine sieve or muslin
• Put the liquid in a large fry pan and reduce until it begins to get syrupy. This will take around 1 hour or more
• Add the sugar and reduce further
• You will know it is ready when it has the consistency of light sugar syrup when spooned onto a cold plate
• When ready, take off the heat and add butter, and swirl around in pan, incorporating into mixture. The liquid will become rich and glossy
• Add salt to taste (do not over salt, and do not add the salt at the beginning of the process, as it will intensify as the liquid reduces)

Beetroot Puree

• 4 beets
• Olive oil, 2 tbspns
• Butter, 1 tbspn
• Sherry Vinegar, 2 tbspns
• Salt, to taste

Method

• Boil unpeeled beets from cold for around 45 minutes until done
• Set aside
• When cool enough to handle, peel and through in food processor
• Add olive oil, butter, sherry vinegar and salt and whizz up in the processor until buttery and smooth. The beets need to be hot enough to melt the butter, but not hot enough to burn your hands when peeling

Putting it All Together

• Slice the roast beef and put on warm plate
• Top with red wine sauce
• Spoon beetroot puree on the side
• Top with mustard leaves dressed with olive oil
• Enjoy

Leftover wagyu roast beef, sliced for tomorrow’s sandwich