The weekend cook: Thomasina Miers’ recipes for rare roast beef fore-rib with tarragon and lemon potatoes, and roast pear pain perdu | Life and style (2024)

Rib of beef with tarragon and lemon potatoes

This takes moments to put together, yet the results are unforgettable. If you can afford it, buy a three-rib joint, to ensure a decent supply of the finest roast beef leftovers imaginable. Serves eight.

For the potatoes
150g butter
1kg charlotte potatoes, peeled (keep the skins to make crisps; see endnote)
250ml chicken stock (fresh, if possible)
3 garlic cloves, halved, in their skins
1 bunch tarragon, picked and chopped
½ lemon

Heat the oven to 240C/465F/gas mark 9. Weigh the beef, then rub it all over with the mustard and oil, making sure you get some under the flap where the bone has been chined. Season generously all over, put in an oven tray and roast for 20 minutes. Turn down the heat to 190C/375F/gas mark 5 and roast for a further 20 minutes a kilo, for perfectly rare beef. Remove from the oven, and leave to rest somewhere warm, loosely covered with foil, for at least 20 minutes before carving – the difference this makes is enormous.

Put the tin on the hob on medium-high heat until the clarified butter begins to bubble, then add the spuds and fry for 10 minutes, turning them regularly, until golden all over. Turn down the heat, then add enough stock to come 1cm up the sides of the tin. Add the garlic and half the tarragon, season generously, then roast alongside the meat for 30 minutes, by which time all the stock should have been absorbed.

Scatter the remaining tarragon over the spuds, squeeze on the juice from the lemon and toss to combine. Serve with the beef.

Pain perdu with roast maple pears

50g butter
2 large pears, halved and cored
40g pecans, roughly chopped
¼ tsp cinnamon
Nutmeg
3 tbsp maple syrup, plus more to serve
1 tbsp dark rum (optional)
3 eggs
200ml single cream
200ml whole milk
Zest of ½ lemon
Seeds from ½ vanilla pod
8 slices day-old brioche
Greek yoghurt or creme fraiche, to serve

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, lemon zest and vanilla seeds, and pour into a wide baking dish. Add the bread, push down to submerge it, and leave to soak for five minutes, turning once.

Add a teaspoon of melted butter to a large, nonstick frying pan on a medium heat. Shake the excess batter from the bread, then, a few slices at a time, fry in the hot butter for a minute or two a side, until golden brown. Keep warm in a low oven and repeat with the remaining bread. Serve with the golden pears, more maple syrup, a faint dusting of cinnamon and a dollop of Greek yoghurt or creme fraiche.

Use the reserved potato skins to make a tasty snack for the holidays: layer them in roasting trays, season with olive oil and salt, and roast at 200C/390F/gas mark 6 until golden and crisp (if you’re doing them in the same oven as the roast potatoes, don’t forget about them – even a few extra minutes will turn them burnt and bitter). Once cool, store in an airtight container, for a very handy nibble. The leftover rare beef makes great sandwiches, especially if you’ve made a horseradish cream to go with your roast: mix a tub of creme fraiche with a third of a stalk of peeled and finely grated fresh horseradish (add it to your online supermarket order: most supply it now), some olive oil, the juice of half a lemon and plenty of salt and pepper. Or flash-fry leftover beef with bean sprouts, peanuts, chilli, tamarind and green curry paste for a mouth-watering, Thai-style stir-fry; don’t forget to add masses of fresh mint and coriander, too. The roast pears, incidentally, are also delicious as they are with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce, for a kind of fancy poires belle Hélène.