Jamie Oliver’s Sunday Roast

We loved this Sunday roast. Our palates—and our dog’s—were watering in anticipation. I have to admit to being confused as to how mashing rosemary leaves into a pulp would occur and if it was okay to leave the garlic peels on, but blind faith and the recipe did not fail me. The flavors were excellent.

Also, and this may have everything to do with the cut of meat, there wasn’t as much fat to cook the potatoes in as I expected, so I doused them with a little olive oil. We—that is, me and my tester-spouse—think that red or fingerling potatoes instead of turnips might be better.

I really liked this Sunday roast recipe. The meat was a lovely medium-rare and the vegetables were perfect!

It was fairly easy to put together. I bashed the leaves from 2 sprigs of rosemary into a paste with about a teaspoon of sea salt, a teaspoon of black peppercorns, and a tablespoon of olive oil, and then rubbed it on the roast before throwing it in the oven. I liked the pre-cooking of the potatoes and turnips, as the tossing in the colander broke up the sides a bit so when they baked they had lovely crisp bits. The only thing I didn’t like about this recipe was the addition of honey. I found that the sweetness didn’t go well with the beef—to my taste, anyway. Also, brushing the meat with the rosemary sprigs didn’t add any more rosemary flavor, so I’m sure you could just use a basting brush instead.

I’ve never made a prime rib before, but this was pretty spectacular. I didn’t realize I was actually making a prime rib (I’m new to cooking beef) until the butcher warned me that the roast was $19 a pound. Yikes! Well, we have some exciting things to celebrate in life these days, so I decided to go for it.

I had the meat in the oven for exactly 50 minutes and then rested it for about 45 minutes. The meat was very rare, so I popped it back into the oven at 425°F for another 10 minutes, which brought it up to medium-rare.

Overall, an excellent dish and I can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow on a sandwich!

This is a lovely Sunday evening meal that’s simple to make and provides a hearty start to the week ahead—plus a five-pound standing roast equals lots of leftovers for two people. The potatoes and turnips are a delicious accompaniment and soaked up all the flavors of the meat.

The recipe calls for 50 minutes to cook the roast, but it would be wise to check the temperature before pulling it. Nothing worse than letting a beautiful roast rest for 30 minutes only to find it’s raw in the middle. Other than that, the flavors, ease, and overall impressiveness of this recipe are quite wonderful.

I was thrilled when I cut into the roast and found it was still medium-rare on the inside (the outer edge that looked overcooked was very fatty, but the middle was perfect and juicy). The honey butter was so mild and may have mostly transferred flavor during the cutting process, either way, the tiny hint of sweetness was lovely. My veggies were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside — also perfect.

At the end of the 50 minutes of cooking time, I was pretty sure my roast was overcooked as we like our meat medium-rare. I was also unsure of the honey and butter on the beef but followed the instructions. By the time my vegetables were done, it was closer to 45 minutes since the roast came out of the oven. My only dislike with this recipe was that the meat was no longer hot so I wondered if some of the cooking of the vegetables and meat could be combined? Either way, a great recipe.

This is a great recipe! The family raved and raved. This is a simple preparation—but a really, really good one—that’s so typical of Jamie Oliver. I’d do this one again in a heartbeat.

I was surprised by the addition of honey and butter after the initial roasting, but loved the subtle difference in taste that they imparted. As for the roasted veggies, I didn’t have all of the ingredients specified, so I improvised with some beets and parsnips. It seems like a lot of garlic and bay leaves to use, but none of the flavors were overpowering. The smell of the vinegar cooking is very sharp, so I had to open a window. The end result was some of the nicest roast vegetables I’ve ever made.

There’s nothing quite like a rib roast on a Sunday afternoon, and this one is very unique. It’d never occurred to me to use honey on a roast, but with just a hint of rosemary and sweetness, the honey added a whole new dimension to the beef. The flavor was truly memorable. The turnips and potatoes are the perfect sidekick to this roast. I could not stop eating them, especially the potatoes.

I used 5 sprigs of rosemary total, and found that to be sufficient. While the roast is in the oven at the high heat, it does sizzle quite a bit. I just ignored the sound (since I did not see any flames), and let the roast, uh, roast. Have the vegetables prepared to cook before taking the meat out of the oven. This makes the whole process stress free.