Beef recipe: Roast sirloin with gravy juices and Jerusalem artichokes

1. Use paper towel to absorb any excess moisture from the beef. Rub in Worcestershire sauce and leave for about 30 minutes. Rub salt evenly into the meat and let it stand for another 30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

3. Heat oil in a large flameproof roasting tin over a medium-high heat. Add eschalots and sauté until golden. Remove and reserve. Place beef in tin, fat side down, rendering some of the fat, then seal and colour all over, about 5 minutes. Cut garlic bulb horizontally in half and rub some oil on cut side. Place garlic, cut side up, into the roasting tin, along with the reserved eschalots, thyme and bay leaves.

4. Cut artichokes into even pieces of about 3cm. Toss pieces in oil, lemon juice and seasoning. Place on tray on bottom shelf of oven. Place roast in the oven on the shelf above. Roast for 20 minutes.

5. After 20 minutes, reduce temperature to 180°C and continue to roast. After another 20 minutes, reduce further to 160°C. While roasting, regularly check the progress of the artichokes (overcooked artichokes turn bland and mushy inside); depending on the batch, they may take 35-60 minutes. Continue to roast beef until the core temperature is about 60°C, about another 10-20 minutes.

6. Remove beef from oven and place on a plate, then cover with foil. Place roast eschalots and artichokes in a serving bowl, keeping the thyme and bay leaves in the roasting tin.

7. Turn off the oven and return beef, artichokes and eschalots to keep warm, leaving the door slightly ajar. Allow the meat to rest in this warm oven for about 15-20 minutes.

8. Carve beef and serve at the table with roast artichokes, eschalots and pan juices.

*Tip: select a piece of beef sirloin with some fat still on the top. This will help the meat stay moist as well as give it more flavour. Try adding some brined green peppercorns, drained from the tin, in the final step when making the pan gravy.

Serve with Neil Perry's pea and ham soup.