Rosemary and Pepper Crusted Roast

Sunday dinners have always been big for me.  I grew up with my parents preparing a beautiful dinner every Sunday, and I have carried on that tradition now that I've got my own family.  I love Sunday dinners for a number of reasons - the obvious family portion, the fact that we have extra time to prepare a lovely meal, and leftovers.  Cooking a big dinner on Sunday means no cooking on Monday, and sometimes even on Tuesday...bonus!

With my husband being an Alberta transplant, he's big into beef.  I've always been a fan of roast (especially if it comes with Yorkshire Pudding!).  This week I found a recipe for Rosemary and Pepper Crusted roast over at Fine Cooking, and I thought I would give it a try.  I've never really cooked much with rosemary, so this is a bit of an adventure for us :-)  We were also both excited to prepare the roast using our BBQ.

Here is the recipe:

2 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
3 pound boneless beef roast, fat trimmed

In a small bowl, combine the oil, rosemary, salt, pepper and garlic.  Mash together.  Rub the combination all over the roast, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.

Preheat your BBQ to 450F with the lid down.

Unwrap the roast and place on the grill.  Cover and cook until it is browned and easily comes away from the grill.  This will take 5-10 minutes.  Be careful as this is a critical time for flare-ups.

If you have a 3 burner grill, turn the back burner off and set the front burner on high.  If you have a 2 burner grill (like us), turn the back burner off and set the front burner on high.

Turn the beef and place it in the cooler area of the grill - the grill temperature should be at 350F.

Cover and cook.  Check the roast regularly, and use your thermometer.  When the roast (at it`s thickest point) is 130F (medium rare) - approximately 30 minutes, remove the roast from the grill, transfer to a cutting board, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.  

Slice and serve.

VERDICT:
This was so so so good.  We all just loved it.  It had wonderful flavour and was quite easy to prepare.  We will certainly be making this again!