In an effort to live a more intentional life, Kevin and I decided we would start paying more attention to the the quality of our food and where it comes from. To keep a long story short, this led us to sign up for a meat CSA from a local farm. This particular CSA runs from January to May, with six bi-weekly shipments of “pork, beef, goat, lamb, local sustainably raised chicken and honey.” They have three different size shares; a “sampler share” of 2-3 pounds; a “lovers share” of 5-8 pounds, and the “family share” of 9-14 pounds. After much discussion with the husband we decided to sign up for the “lovers share”, mostly because this is the first time we’ve done a CSA and we weren’t really sure what to expect. I immediately began dreaming of all the high quality local meat we’d have on hand and all the new recipes I’d be able to try with all the meat we were going to get.

We picked up our first share last week and I have to be perfectly honest with you: I was a little bit underwhelmed. I should have taken a picture, but of course I didn’t think about it until just now. Anyway, in our first share we received:

– one pound sliced bacon

– ound 3.5 pound beef sirloin tip roast

– two bone-in pork loin chops

– one half chicken

I have to give the farm credit – the lovers share is supposed to be 5 to 8 pounds of meat and we did receive just about 8 pounds total. I guess I just thought in my head that it would be…more. With the bones in the pork chops and the chicken we’re really only getting closer to 5 pounds of usable meat; and the way that Kevin and I eat protein in this house, our “lovers share” will feed us for approximately five meals. Still, I am glad we signed up and I’m excited to see what we receive in future shipments.

And I did appreciate getting a beef sirloin tip roast, because it’s something I’ve never used before and so I immediately started looking up recipes. I’m pretty impressed with the way things turned out, if I do say so myself! After perusing some good recipes for inspiration, this is what we came up with:

First, we created a rub for our roast. We were feeling a little spicy, so our rub consisted of garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, thyme, oregano, salt, pepper, and some cayenne pepper for an extra kick. We mixed our spices with some olive oil to create a nice “paste”, and rubbed it all over our roast. Once that was done, we let it sit for about 30 minutes so the meat could marinate in all that goodness.

While the oven was preheating, we seared the roast in a hot cast iron skillet to seal in the juices. Once that was done, we set the roast on a bed of carrots, baby potatoes, and onion wedges tossed with olive oil and a little bit of salt and pepper, and roasted it in the oven at 350 for about an hour and fifteen minutes. We like our beef cooked medium rare, so we aimed for a temperature of about 135 degrees before we took the roast out to rest for another 15 minutes or so.

As it turns out our timing was perfect and we ended up with a beautiful warm red center to the meat, with the end pieces a little more well done. We intentionally left the vegetables simple – with only the barest hint of salt and pepper – because we ended up with a nice spicy “au jus” at the bottom of the pan to pour over everything once we plated up our meal. The end result had a nice kick of heat, but if you prefer things a little less spicy simply reduce or omit the cayenne pepper.

Assuming you clean your bowls as you go, this meal turned out to be a great one pot Whole30 dinner that required very little clean up! Not to mention we have delicious leftovers for the next couple of days – stay turned for a couple creative ways to use them up!

Beef Sirloin Tip Roast with Carrots and Potatoes

prep time: 30 minutes

cook time: 75 minutes plus 15 minutes resting

serves: 6 (or 2 with lots of leftovers!)

INGREDIENTS:

3.5 pound sirloin tip roast

1 bag carrots, sliced (or 1 bag baby carrots)

1 bag baby potatoes

2 whole onions, chopped into wedges

olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp onion powder

1 Tbsp smoked paprika

1/2 Tbsp thyme

1/2 tbsp oregano

2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)

TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl, mix your spices with about 1/8 – 1/4 cup olive oil. In a bowl (or a gallon sized ziplock bag for less mess), combine the roast and the spice-oil mixture, rub thoroughly. Let sit for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop your vegetables and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour into the bottom of a roasting pan.

In a cast iron or heavy skillet, heat approximately 2 tbsp of olive oil. Sear the roast on all sides (about 1-2 min per side) and set the roast on top of the vegetables. Roast in the oven for 75 minutes (for medium rare), remove, and let rest for an additional 15-20 minutes or until internal temperature is about 145 degrees. Slice and serve with vegetables.