Treacle-cured roast sirloin, gravy & thyme salt

Method

• step 1

  A day ahead, make the marinade. Mix the treacle with 100ml water until the treacle has dissolved. Lay the meat in a deep-sided dish and cover with the treacle marinade. Pop in the fridge overnight, or better still, up to 24 hrs.

• step 2

  To cook, heat oven to 90C/70C fan/gas ¼. Remove the beef from the marinade and place on a rack, fat-side up, in a roasting tin. Roast for 1 hr. Meanwhile, pour the marinade into a saucepan, bring to the boil and reduce by half and set aside. Once the beef has had its time and you’re ready to cook your roasties, turn the oven up to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roast the beef for 20 mins more, then brush all over with the reduced marinade, then continue to cook for 30-40 mins, checking with a meat thermometer until the middle reaches 55C for pink but bloody and 60C for pink but cooked in the middle. Brush with more glaze as soon as the beef comes out. Leave to rest.

• step 3

  To make the gravy, remove the rack and place the roasting tray with all the beefy goodness on the hob. Add the shallot and thyme sprigs and warm through, then add the flour to form a paste. Pour in the wine and bubble until reduced, then pour in the stock and simmer for a few minutes, then pass through a fine sieve into a gravy jug. As an optional extra, mash the picked thyme leaves with some flaky sea salt using a pestle and mortar. Slice the beef as thick or as thin as you like. Season with the thyme salt, if using, and serve with the gravy.