Mmm, cow

Blogging regularly certainly requires specific things to line up for me. For example, if I'm not doing a lot of baking, cooking or entertaining - I don't blog a lot. If I AM doing a lot of it, I also don't blog a lot since I can't pick a topic from all I've got swimming in my head! Only when I find a happy medium do I feel ready to blog on a regular basis. So you'll notice I haven't really been updating much lately - it's cuz I've got SO many topics to share that I don't know where to start. So... let's just jump in!

This is close to being my absolute favorite meal!

I absolutely without a doubt, completely and totally and unbelievably, ridiculously LOVE prime rib. PRIME. RIB. I love it! Prime rib at a Vegas buffet? I'm all over it. Prime Rib on a menu? I almost always order it. Black Angus, House of Prime Rib, Broadway Prime, Vic Stewart's... I don't care how fancy a beef joint - I will practically always enjoy the prime rib. Mom has been making prime rib for Christmas Eve dinner for as long as I can remember. Probably at least the last 20 years. I think one year she asked us how we'd feel about a pork roast and I whined so much, the family could have gone into viticulture.

Two of my favorite things...

We had Kevin & Liz (and BooBoo and ShiaoShiao) over for dinner last weekend. GREAT friends deserve dinner for no reason at all other than getting together. You might see some of these items pop up in future blog posts...

Menu was:
brie with salami and sundried tomatoes on crackers
red wine
French onion soup
prime rib with au jus, sauteed string beans and popovers
profiteroles with homemade vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce
coffee

Too bad Boo and Shiao aren't the most playful dogs -- Lucca tried with all her puppiness to engage them in some serious play, but they just preferred to chill...

Lucca wanted so badly to play with Boo & Shiao, but they just
weren't interested in her puppy energy

Prime rib is fantastically easy to make. All it takes is time - and not much else other than that! Go out and buy yourself a Beef Ribeye Roast (bone in or boneless). With bone-in I shop for about a pound per person for 2 men and 2 women (and will have some leftover). Boneless will obviously be more meat and I'd be fine with about 3/4 of a pound per person (yes, leftovers too). So in most cases I'm getting about 4 pounds for 4 people with scraps for training Lucca later...

Put it bone side down in the rack & don't trim that fat!

• Take the roast out of the fridge for a couple hours before cooking if possible - to attempt to even the temperature a bit.
• Pat the meat with a paper towel.
• Slice 3-4 cloves of garlic into 3-4 slivers so that you have 10-12 slivers of garlic.
• With a small paring knife, cut 1/2"-3/4" slits in the sides and top of the roast (directly into the meat, into the fat, anywhere except the bone).
• Put 1 sliver of garlic into each slit and really get it in there.
• Use whatever seasoning you like, but I prefer salt, pepper and garlic powder. Simple and absolutely fantastic. You don't need to be conservative with the seasoning - just shake it on every side of that roast!
• Put the roast on a rack so that it's raised above the pan and won't be sitting in its own fat as it cooks.

Slivers of garlic studded all over ------- Season liberally, even the fat

We eat our meat medium in my family, so that's the roasting time I know:

• For every pound of [boneless] meat, roast for 20-25 minutes at 350 for medium
• For every pound of [bone-in] meat, roast for 18-20 minutes at 350° for medium

So that means for a 3.75 pound boneless roast you'll be roasting about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
But TAKE THE TEMPERATURE with an instant read thermometer, to be sure. Once the center of the meat is around 130° take it out of the oven and tent with foil for about 20-30 minutes. For medium rare you only need it to be around 125° before tenting it.

Want a bite?

As the meat sits in its tent, it cooks a bit more and gets juicy and delicious. Use a sharp meat knife to cut 1/2"-3/4" slices and serve with some prepared au jus (laced with those meat juices you'll now see pooling on your cutting board).

The best part of cooking for others: digging in

It's one of the best meals on earth - especially with some spicy horseradish and a hot flaky popover to sop up the juices. Mmm, cow.