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Saturday, November 26, 2016

My first prime rib roast, on the rotisserie

I have a rotisserie, and wanted to use it for something.  Since I am not the biggest fan of chicken and pork, I used it for something I rave about:  Prime Rib Roast.

It was really quite easy.

My roast aged in the refrigerator for a couple of days.  

I coated the rib roast with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper.  Let it sit for a couple of hours.  

Put it on the rotisserie for an hour and 15 minutes.  It was a six pound roast, so that's about 12 minutes a pound, and it turned out medium rare.

Sliced it, and had it with horseradish sauce.  It was divine.

Sunday, November 6, 2016

After 7 years, I finally tried toasting real pumpkin seeds.

I've had every intention of toasting my own pumpkin seeds, for the past 7 years.

This year, I finally did it... and I did it wrong.

Unfortunately, none of the grocery stores had any more pumpkins.  So I guess I will have to wait till next year to try again.

What you are supposed to do, is get the seeds out of the pumpkin-- and don't bother with those flimsy pumpkin cutting kits that bend and break on the first use.  Use a serrated knife.

Don't worry about rinsing the bits of pumpkin off-- that adds flavor.

Let the seeds dry on a flat pan.

Coat the seeds in Olive oil.

Add salt, or seasoned salt if you want.

Into the oven at 300 degrees.

That's how you're supposed to do it.  Never mind how I actually did it, since I did it all wrong... 

I'll try to remember next year.  I'm not waiting another 7 years.


Saturday, November 5, 2016

Mock "prime rib" and Au Jus

I love prime rib.  It's my favorite "steak", but it's not actually "steak".  It's a rib roast that has been sliced, and is usually served with horseradish sauce and "Au Jus".

Au Jus is a dipping juice made from beef broth.  

There are several ways to make Au Jus; I made some by heating up some beef broth with Worcestershire sauce on the stove to a boil, then reducing the heat to a simmer, and allowing the broth to "reduce".

So when I went to the store to get a "prime rib" roast, the butcher suggested to me that bone-in ribeye was the same cut of meat, only sliced into steaks, and was two dollars a pound cheaper.

I don't know if that was correct or not, but, that was what he told me.  And, it was two dollars a pound cheaper.

So I got the bone in ribeye steaks.  Now, steaks definitely cook differently than roast, so I did not expect it to be exactly the same as the prime rib I love to order from a restaurant.

But I cooked it similarly.  I stacked the two steaks on top of each other in an open roasting pan, and roasted them in the oven at 250 degrees until they were pink.

When I first tasted it, I decided it needed more flavor, so I put Worcestershire sauce directly on it.

I read later that it would have been more flavorful had I seasoned the meat with garlic cloves and black peppercorns before putting it in the oven.

Other than that, it wasn't exactly the same as in a restaurant (and it wouldn't be, since steaks indeed cook differently from roast), but it was just about.  

Especially with the horseradish sauce!