When it comes to a traditional joint of roast beef nothing beats a good piece of sirloin. It is a little extravagent at £20 the kilo, but well worth it in my opinion! For this roast you’ll need a joint of at least 1.5 kilos to cook properly - this should be easily enough for 4 or 5 people.Firstly season the joint liberally with salt and pepper a few hours in advance, when you’re ready to roast it weigh it to determine its weight. The cooking time of the beef can be calculated at 35 minutes per kilo (15 per pound) for rare meat, for well done (God forbid!) add another 20 minutes (in total) or so.

Start the meat off in a large baking tray as hot as your oven allows (about 260 C / gas mark 9) for the first 10 minutes,  then turn it down to 180 C (gas mark 4) for the remaining time.

Whilst your meat is roasting peel the parsnips and cut into quaters lengthways, put them in a pan with cold water and bring to the boil. Once boiled remove the parsnips and drizzle with a little olive oil and add some salt and pepper. Half an our before the beef is ready put the ’snips into the roasting tin with the beef, turning them occasionaly giving them a good coating of the beef juices.

Once the meat is ready remove from the roasting tin and set aside to rest for a good ten minutes - transfer the parsnips to another dish so that you can make some gravy in the roasting tin with the left over juices from the joint.

To do this first drain off any excess dripping, saving for your yorkshires on another day. Add the glass of red wine to the tin, a little bit of tomato puree - this soaks up a little of the grease and also helps thinken the gravy slightly. Add to this a small amount of water (I find the water from boiling carrots perfect) and reduce all this together, stirring constantly with a woden spoon to get all the lovely caramelised juices from the bottom of the tin. This will produce a wonderful gravy to go with a wonderful joint of beef.

This roast is, of course, best served with Yorkishire pudding.