Birthday dinner...

We typically post the Wednesday Treat Day item on Tuesdays, but I got a late start on making it today and it is still chilling out in the refrigerator. We'll get the details posted tomorrow!

Rather than going out, we decided to just hang out with the pups last night and make my birthday dinner instead. We originally talked about doing a beef tenderloin, but I had a bit of sticker shock when I went to the market and they were charging $27 per pound. I could have splurged for my birthday, but it just didn't make sense in my mind - maybe I'm just cheap?! So, we browsed through the meat section and Jeff picked out an nice looking Eye of Round roast.

Only one problem... I've never cooked one! While we do have a pretty broad array of recipes, there are plenty of ingredients I still have yet to work with and several of them include popular cuts of meat! After checking around, I found a popular method to cook this cut using a high heat method. All you needed to do was season the meat, place the roast in a fiery 500 degree oven, reduce the temperature slightly and let it cook seven minutes per pound. Once that time expired, you turn the oven off and let it hang out for 2 1/2 hours. Intrigued by the method, we gave it a go - you can season the roast as you please, but I raided our spice supply and used a combination of salt, black pepper, garlic, coriander, dill weed, paprika and crushed red pepper.

After a dreadfully long time of breathing in the alluring aromatic scent that filled the kitchen during the cook time, I could hardly wait to slice into the roast and see how we did. After I took the first thin slice off, Jeff and I knew we struck gold seeing that beautiful rosy pink hue the beef had! Even though it is a very lean cut of meat, it was plenty juicy and being sliced thin, still fork tender. Now, of course it was not as meltingly tender as a tenderloin would be, but really, we were quite pleased how well this turned out! And at less than half the price per pound of the tenderloin, we are sold on this cut and method to prepare it... I'm excited to try it again! I also got to check one more off the list of things I've yet to prepare. Paired with a baked potato last night, you can be sure I was more than satisfied with my "meat and potatoes" birthday meal at home!

Recipes
High Heat Eye of Round Roast