Rib of Beef with Sauteed Radicchio

Preheat your oven to 200 degees.gas 6.

Get the beef to room temperature first – so take it out at breakfast time. When it’s at room temperature and you’re ready to cook it, place it in a large roasting tray, rub it with a little butter, season well and sprinkle over some thyme.

Roast it for 40-60 minutes, uncovered, to give it some really good colour. Then turn down the oven to 180 degrees/gas 4 and roast for another 60 minutes. Remove the meat from the oven, wrap it in tin foil and leave to rest for 40 minutes. Don’t skip this step – it will make the meat more tender and also create fantastic juices for any gravy you might make.

Serve with the dauphinoise and the sautéed radicchio. If you are wary of temperatures, buy a meat thermometer – it will help you to see what is medium or medium rare. I often find with rib of beef, the few inside bits can be a bit too rare, whereas the outside bits are perfect. If this is the case, it’s dead handy to slice it all after resting and if you have any bits that are too pink, lash them back into the oven for a quick blast.

To make the radicchio: In a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the garlic over a medium heat and then add and sauté the radicchio until it's quite tender – but this really only takes minutes, so can be done at the very lastmoment.

Have the butter and garlic in a pan, have the radicchio sliced, and when you’re clearing starters, turn up the heat and let the heat gently wilt and cook it. Season it well with sea salt and ground black pepper.