Prime Rib Roast for a Small Crowd

Happy New Year!!! Okay, this post is coming a bit later than New Year, but it took me a while to figure out how to upload the pictures from my camera. So today I will write several posts to catch up.

For the purposes of this blog, I am aptly named The Clumsy Gourmet. I am incredibly messy when I cook. I tend to become covered with whatever ingredients I am working with. I also tend to be clumsy with my fingers. I have accidentally nicked myself with knives, slammed my fingers between cooking implements and generally manage to be somewhat of a klutz. Thus the explanation of my name.

I am writing this blog because I love to cook and wanted to expand my recipe repertoire. I decided to work my way through a cookbook with a wide-variety of recipes. I chose Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I chose this cookbook because it has a nice mix of both modern recipes and classics. I have also been a fan of Mark Bittman's for a while. I have made a few of his online recipes and have been very pleased with the simple, yet elegant results.

The book I am using is his soft-back version published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. and copyrighted in 1998. I will post the exact name of the recipe and the page number for reference in case anyone has this cookbook or wishes to purchase a copy of this book and attempt to make the same dish. I will NOT post the actual recipe. I do believe in copyright laws and I strongly urge readers who wish to prepare these dishes to purchase their own copy of this great cookbook and enjoy!

Finally, my tasters. To protect our real identities, I have come up with internet names for both myself and my two primary tasters. I am The Clumsy Gourmet (CG). The first taster is my significant other, Awesome Sauce (AS). Once upon a time, AS and I were making yucca fries with chipotle aioli. Our friends went bananas over the aioli and nick-named it "awesome sauce." Since then, yucca fries with "awesome sauce" has become a signature dish for us. Thus, Awesome Sauce decided to take this as his internet monkier. One more note, Awesome Sauce is an excellent cook. He has a better nose for spices than me and much of our relationship is spent in the kitchen together. My other primary taster is my friend and roommate, Junky Monkey (JM). Her nickname simply comes from the fact that without the benefit of Awesome Sauce's and my cooking, Junky Monkey resorts to eating junk food. Okay...she might eat some celery and cream cheese once in a while...but that doesn't excuse the oreos, frozen chicken patties, hot dogs and tator tots. Junky Monkey is a lot of fun to cook for because she appreciates anything made for her.

One quick note. Our recipe rating scale is from 1-10. It is based on a system where 3 and below would not be made again and 8 and above is varying degrees of great. A 1 is one of the worst foods we have ever eatin and a 10 is one of the best.

Okay....on to the first recipe. Prime Rib Roast for a Small Crowd (Page 429). Awesome Sauce and I decided to stay home on New Year's Eve and cook ourselves a wonderful dinner. We bought a gorgeous prime rib roast (definitely the most money I have ever spent on one slab of meat!!) On the advice of the butcher, we purchased three ribs worth of meat. I forgot to record the exact weight for this blog, but will be more careful in the future. We had prime rib to feed ourselves and Junky Monkey the next day and still had more for lunches later the next week.

We ended up cooking the meat for almost two hours. My meat thermometer said it was a little over-cooked and I was worried, but it turns out I just need a significantly better thermometer. The prime rib came out perfect. My only complaint was that it needed a little more flavor. I have seen other recipes where the meat is stuffed with thyme, rosemary and other spices in addition to the garlic. I would love to try this to see if there is a difference. We served the prime rib with a nice red wine, cheesy potatoes made by Awesome Sauce and green beans sauted in a little butter and garlic. Below are some pictures of our feast.

This is a picture of our roast after it has "rested" but before being cut.

Our roast being cut!

A close-up of our pretty roast!

Our beautiful New Year's Eve table!

Awesome Sauce's cheesy-potatoes!

Overall, I give this recipe an 8.5. AS rates this recipe a 7. He found the meat to be a great consistency but a little boring flavor-wise. Re-heated the next day, JM gave this recipe a 7. Note: JM is not a huge fan of steak in general.