It's not a lie.

Tyler's Ultimate is one of my favourite cookbooks in my collection, and his ultimate Sunday dinner of beef and potatoes was definitely a winner. It was so easy to make - just brown the meat (biodynamic sirloin, thank-you very much) in a pot, add onions, thyme, beef stock and red wine, and cook in a medium oven for 2.5 hours until tender. It makes your whole house smell wonderful, and requires very little effort.

While it was cooking, I made some French-style peas (cooked with sliced cos lettuce, spring onions and chicken stock).


And some decadent creamy mashed potatoes. (Added to the potatoes were hot milk, a touch of cream, and more butter than I care to recall).

Butter is the key.

Now that I'm working 9-5, I don't get the time to cook slow, special meals as often as I used to, and I was soo pleased with this one. The only change I'd make next time is to make sure I use more liquid - during its time in the oven, most of the liquid cooked away, leaving the beef a bit dry and sauceless. I used a big mama 28cm Le Creuset to cook the meat; next time something narrower would probably work better, so that I don't have to use litres and litres of wine to cover the meat completely.