Spicy Beef Cross-Rib Roast with Caramelized Clementine Sauce

* I have been asked for this recipe three times, so I thought I better post it to make it easier to share.  Enjoy!

** I highly recommend the Sunset Magazine Best Recipes 2010 magazine, if you can get your hands on it.  I use it all the time.  This recipe comes from it's dog-eared pages.

Serves 6-8

2 1/2 pounds clementines
1-2 t crushed red chile flakes
3 T coarsely chopped fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 t kosher salt
3 T veg. oil
1 boned cross-rib roast or boneless chuck roast tied up as a roast
6 T each soy sauce and sugar
3 T dry sherry
3 green onions, cut into 2 in.match sticks

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Finely shred zest from 2 large clementines; save clementines for another use. In a food processor, whirl zest, chile flakes, ginger, garlic, and salt to mince. Blend in oil. Put meat in 12 x 17 in roasting pan, rub all over with chile mixture, and set fat side up.

2. Roast beef until browned, 20-25 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and cook until an instant read thermometer inserted in thickest part of meat reaches 90 degrees, about 20 minutes.

3. Juice remaining clementines (juice to yield about two cups.) Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add clementine peels and boil gently 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain; rinse with cool. water. Scrape out and discard pulp and white pith. Cut peels in half, then stack a few at a time and cut into long, thin strips. In a bowl, combine clementine strips, sugar, soy sauce, sherry and 2/3 cup clementine juice.

4. When meat is at 90 degrees, pour juice/soy sauce mixture around it. Cook, stirring sauce occasionally, until meat reaches 130 degrees for med. rare, 30-40 minutes; as pan juices begin to caramelize, stir in a few T clementine juice to prevent scorching.

5. Transfer beef to a cutting board and let it rest, tented loosely with foil, 15 minutes. Pour remaining clementine juice into roasting pan, set pan over high heat, and cook, stirring often, until juices are thickened and shiny, about 7 minutes. Scrape sauce into bowl. 6. Snip twine from roast. Thinly slice meat crosswise. Serve with sauce and onions as a garnish.

*** Serving this last night I used a chuck roast instead of the cross-rib roast.  For such a great sauce, I shouldn't have compromised, but it was still really good.