Roast Beef with Artichoke Appetizer

My favorite grocery store has started a new kind of special, everything in the bin is one price, in this case $10.  The bin was full of sirloin tip roasts priced from $12 to more than $17 so of course I bought the biggest one. With such a big roast I had Fern invite Kevin over for dinner.  

The other day I picked up a bag of 4 artichokes for 99 cents. This would be a great time for an appetizer so I looked up what to do with the artichokes. Cut the top inch or so off  and the tips of the leaves.  Remove the small bottom leaves and cut the stem off. Put the artichokes in a steamer for about 35 minutes. Serve with garlic butter. 

Garlic Butter

1 clove garlic (crushed and chopped)

1/4 cup butter

a few grains of salt

Over medium heat melt the butter, add the salt and garlic then cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Serve individual dipping bowls. Sorry I forgot to get a photo. To eat, peel off a leaf, dip in butter and scrape stem end off against front teeth. When all leaves are gone cut away and discard the furry top of the heart and eat it.

Beef Rub

1  1/4  tablespoons paprika

1   tablespoon kosher salt

1   teaspoon garlic powder

1/2   teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2   teaspoon onion powder

1/2   teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/2   teaspoon dried oregano

1/2   teaspoon dried thyme

Coat all sides of the roast with the rub then sear all sides on a hot burner with plenty of oil.  Set on a rack in the oven at 250ºF till the internal temperature reaches 150ºF. One and a half to two hours for my 1.3kg (2.8lb) roast.

Ordinary mashed potatoes don't need comment.  Turnips take almost an hour to cook and I put a couple of carrots in when they were half done.  Mashed the turnip and carrot with a little butter and salt.

I took the roast out of the oven and set it on the cutting board under foil to rest. We had the artichokes first.  Fern initially said Kevin wouldn't like artichokes but they needed to be used so I served them anyway.  Kevin liked pickled artichoke hearts but had never had fresh.  He loved them! He's going to buy them himself when they go on special! 

The roast was delicious despite not being Angus beef. I like a little horseradish with mine.