Beef and tomatoes have enjoyed a long history together. Whether it’s tomato ketchup on your burger or tomato paste in your beef casserole, the two have an established friendship. Winter tomatoes—why do we buy them?—can add a surprising depth to gravy if they are roasted alongside the Sunday beef. I chuck them in with the onions and bay leaves that provide the background music for the gravy. The tomatoes sharpen up in the searing heat, their skin catches and burns, and they add a certain piquancy to the sweet onion and caked-on roasting juices. The winter tomato has at last found a point. You may well want some roast potatoes to go with this. I usually boil them first for ten minutes, then drain and add to the roasting tin.
Recipe information
Yield
enough for 6
Ingredients
For the Gravy
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Peel the onions and boil them in unsalted water for fifteen minutes, then drain them. Smear the beef all over with oil or beef dripping, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper. Lay it in a roasting pan with the boiled onions, the whole, unpeeled garlic cloves, the tomatoes, and the bay leaves. Roast for twenty minutes. Decrease the oven temperature to 350°F (180°C) and continue roasting for a further ten minutes per pound (500g). When the beef is done, remove from its pan, then set it aside somewhere warm, lightly covered with aluminum foil to keep it warm while it rests and while you make the tomato gravy. (If you are roasting potatoes to accompany this, now is the time to take them out, put them in another dish, and continue roasting until crisp and golden.)
Step 2
Squash the onions, tomatoes, and garlic in the pan with the back of a wooden spoon. Dust the flour on top and place the pan and its contents over medium heat, stirring almost constantly, until the flour browns a little. Pour in the Madeira and let it bubble a while, then add the stock and the mustards, stirring and scraping at the stuck-on roasting juices. Season, then leave to simmer, with the occasional stir, for ten to fifteen minutes (any longer and the gravy will lose much of its character). Check the seasoning and push through a coarse sieve into a warm pitcher—it really must be warm. Serve with the beef.
