Horseradish and Herb Crusted Standing Rib Roast

I know,  I keep promising that I will come back. And then I come back for one or two posts and then I vanish. But this time, since things have died down a bit in my personal life, I promise I'm back. For real. You see, the wedding is over! We are married! And now I have TONS of fun wedding gifts for the kitchen to play with. My posts in the future should be more aesthetically pleasing, at least. 

This is a very impressive dish that is actually quite easy to make. My mom originally gave me this recipe and I make it pretty much any time I see a standing rib roast on sale at Publix. The great thing about the dish is that it's easily modifiable based on how many people you're having for dinner, and once you get it in the oven, it's very low maintenance. And it's VERY pretty.

Oh, and by the way, I've come up with a new trick for the blog. Whenever there is a step or a tip that I have that is optional, but will really elevate the end product, I'll insert it with the heading "Gourmet Tip."

Total Prep Time: 15 min (not counting time it may take to soften butter and let meat come to room temperature)

Total Cook Time: 1.5 hrs-3 hrs depending on size of roast

Ingredients:

Standing Rib Roast (the size you get will depend on the number of people you are cooking for. The general rule of thumb is that one rib will typically feed about two people, but since we are typically hungrier, I try to think more that one person will eat 2/3 of a rib--also they typically don't sell them any smaller than two ribs at a time, otherwise it's just a bone-in rib-eye steak)

1/2 cup bread crumbs

3 tbsp prepared horseradish

3 tbsp softened butter

finely minced thyme, rosemary and sage to taste

salt and black pepper to taste

Gourmet Tip: Meat cooks so much better if you bring it out of the fridge anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes before you plan on cooking it. Why? You want your meat to rise to its cooking temperature quickly--whether you are searing it or roasting it. Otherwise there's a better chance the meat will steam, which will leave it colorless, crustless, gray and rubbery. Or just won't have as good of a texture. My tip is to just pull the meat out of the fridge before you do any of your prep work and set it on the counter so it can warm up a little bit. I typically will open the package, rinse the meat, and then let it dry on some paper towels and covered loosely by a paper towel, since we all know that dry meat cooks better than wet meat.

Preheat your oven to 350. 

If you have softened butter by leaving it on the counter, good for you. I commend you. Otherwise, put your butter in a microwave safe bowl (don't slice it, just put the whole hunk in there) and nuke it for 10 seconds. You want it to come out at this consistency:

Add the horseradish and the finely minced herbs to the butter and mix well, creating a paste.

You want there to be enough herbs in the butter mixture so that you can see them, but you don't want to be entirely herby. I can't tell you how many sprigs of each herb to use, but try to evenly distribute them throughout the butter mixture.

Place your roast a small roasting pan where your standing rib roast fits snugly (I typically use a square 8X8 non-stick pan for a smaller roast). Salt and pepper all surfaces of the roast. Then, stand your roast up so that the bone is closest to the pan, and coat the top of the roast with your butter mixture.

After you evenly coat the butter mixture on top of the roast, sprinkle with bread crumbs. If you want to get super fancy, you can put parmesan cheese in with the bread crumbs, but just a tiny bit.

Then, put your roast in the oven. For cooking times, I have calculated that the roast cooks best at approximately 22 minutes per 8 ounces. That will give you a pretty rare roast, but I'd rather you undercook at first, and then put a meat thermometer in to find out it needs a little more time, rather than end up with an overcooked piece of meat. 

When you check the temperature, make sure you don't touch the bone with the meat thermometer. I like to check it in a couple of places in the center of the roast so that I can get an "average" reading. For medium rare center, you want the center to be at about 140. Remember, you're going to let it rest for about 15 minutes after you pull it out, and the temperature will continue to go up about five degrees.

Shhh, it's resting.

After you let it rest (some people tent tin foil over it while it rests but I tend to find that this steams the crust that I worked so hard to make crispy), you will slice it and serve. The best way to slice is to go vertically between the bones, then carve off of the bones. 

Serve, and enjoy!!!

Brisket Old-School (Old World?) Style

This is a nice Jewish brisket recipe. It comes out just the way I always remember my grandmother and mother making for me. This takes longer than an hour, but it's an excellent crock pot meal that if you prep the night before, you can put in the crockpot in the morning, and let it cook for 8-10 hours while you work. 

What you will need:

a 5 lb (approximately) lean brisket, trimmed of as much fat as possible
4-5 large new potatoes, cut into eighths (alternately, 6 red potatoes)
two large carrots, peeled and sliced into circles
2 large white onions
6-7 cloves of garlic
1 large container of beef stock
1 small can of tomato paste
1-2 tbsps of canola oil
Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
1 bay leaf

First things first: Slice your onions into circles and extract your garlic cloves:

Set the onions and garlic aside in a bowl. Then slice your carrots and potatoes:

Set these aside in a separate bowl. Next, you will rinse and trim your brisket. Note, it is considerably harder to trim the fat off of a brisket than it is off of a lamb roast, but can be accomplished in approximately the same manner. Liberally season both sides of the brisket with sea salt and black pepper.

In a large flat saute pan, heat your canola oil. It should coat the bottom of the pan pretty evenly. After it is heated, drop in all of the onions and garlic, and saute for about 2-3 minutes, or until they are slightly translucent. There will be a wonderfully delicious aroma, I promise you.

After they are finished cooking, take the onions and garlic out with a slotted spoon, and put them back in their bowl. Transfer the brisket to the saute pan and turn the heat as high as it will go, as you will be searing the meat. It's ok if it hangs out a little bit; you can pick it up and sear each area.

Leave each side down for about 1-2 minutes; your sear should look something like this:

In the crockpot, pour half of your onion/garlic mixture on the bottom. Then pour in half of your carrots and potatoes. Then pour half of your container of chicken broth in, and place the bay leaf in as well. Mix in 1/2 tbsp of tomato paste. Place the brisket on top of the layer of veggies; it's ok if you have to sort of fold it to get it to fit. Just get it in there. Then spread a thin layer of tomato paste on top of the brisket. Pour the rest of the veggies and chicken stock on top of the brisket, and mix in another tablespoon of tomato paste. shake in some more salt and pepper while you're at it. 

Cook on "low" heat for 8-10 hours. If you are at home, you can take the brisket out around hour 6 and slice it then return it to the crock pot to continue cooking that way; but if not, no worries, it still tastes good if you leave it alone.

To slice the brisket, do as so:

Serve with the delicious vegetables and broth over it, and enjoy!