Prime Rib

Prime rib. One of my favorite cuts of beef. Anytime I am out and prime rib is on the menu I have to try it. It had been, until this past weekend, the only cut I had never tried cooking myself. For some reason there was this mystique behind it and I felt somewhat intimidated by the thought of cooking it. However; I'm always looking to try new things, it was a Holiday, so I said let's do this.

After researching online and conversing with a friend who usually does a 7 ribber once or twice a year, I was ready to give this a whirl. To be honest, you'd have to be an idiot to screw this up, it was that easy.

Call your local supermarket and talk to someone in the meat department. They will be able to set up with what you need if there are a decent supermarket. Even the small one in my town was able to hook me up with what I needed. Make sure you order the Prime Cut. It doesn't matter too much if you get Angus beef or not, just make sure you ask for the Prime Cut. When ordering do not buy it and think "I will order a 6 rib standing roast for 6 people and everyone will have one rib." No. One 'rib' is good for two people. This was my learning curve (we had Flinstone size portions). So if you are feeding four people you are probably safe with a two rib standing roast (or three if you want leftovers). I was unsure how much I would need and who was coming over for dinner. Rather than not have enough I ordered a 6 rib, bone in, prime cut standing roast.

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

Sprinkle pepper and some garlic powder on the outside of the roast.

Rub a tablespoon or 2 of butter on each end of the roast.

Make sure the roast is in a deep enough tray so any juices don't spill over.

Put in the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, uncovered. After than, turn the temperature down to 325 degrees, still uncovered. You want the internal temperature to reach 120 degrees. No more than that! 120 degrees will give you medium rare, which really is the only way to eat prime rib. If you like it done a little more, eat the ends, they will be medium. For the size of mine I cooked it for just about two and a half hours. I checked the internal temperature every half hour and that's ok to do. Just make sure you pull it out of the oven at 120 degrees. 

When you pull it out cover it with aluminum foil and let it sit. It will continue to cook. To be honest I left mine out of the oven for an hour and a half and it was still warmed through when I cut it.

This was one of the easiest things I've ever cooked and it tasted amazing. The leftovers we had for several days were just as good!       

A Winter's Chicken Pot Pie

I absolutely love chicken pot pie, especially during winter. It's got everything in it that you need and want in a comfort food. I have read dozens of chicken pot pie recipes online and made as many. For one reason or another I just never got it right, resulting in, it never tasting right. So I made up my own. I think this recipe is fairly easy to make. The inclusion of frozen vegetables and canned potatoes are the perfect offset for having to make your own gravy. Let's do this.  

Makes 2 Chicken Pot Pies

Boiled Chicken

2 chicken breasts, bone in, skin on

1 medium onion roughly chopped.

2/3 stalks of celery roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon parsley

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons of butter

6 cups of water

Pie Filling:

2 tablespoons butter

1 16 oz package frozen mixed veggies

2 8 oz cans small unsalted white potatoes

1 cup of milk

4 cups chicken stock

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon tarragon

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 frozen pre-formed pie crusts (bottom)
2 frozen pie crusts (top)

Boil that chicken! Melt the butter and saute the onions and celery until the onions are translucent. Add the chicken breasts, bay leaf and parsley and the 6 cups of water. It should just cover the chicken. Bring to a boil, then down to simmer, cover and cook until the chicken is fork tender (usually around an hour). Remove the chicken breasts and set aside to cool. Strain the liquid from removing the celery, onion and bay leaf. Set this chicken stock aside.

* Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

Pie Filling:

Melt the butter in large sauce pan or stock pot and add the frozen vegetable mix. Saute until they are cooked through. Strain the canned white potatoes and cut quarter them. Add to the vegetable mixture. Once the chicken has cooled down, shred or cut it into small bite size pieces and add that to the vegetable/potato mixture, along with the sage, tarragon, thyme, salt and pepper. Add 4 cups of the chicken stock you put aside and 1 cup of milk. Bring to a simmer. Dissolve the cornstarch in just enough water to cover it. Slowly begin adding the cornstarch mixture 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring to thicken between tablespoons, until the chicken/potato/veggie mixture reaches what I call a slightly thin soup consistency. 2 to 3 tablespoons is usually enough.  

*Defrost the frozen pie crusts according to the manufactures instructions.

Spoon the pie filling into both pies and cover with the remaining crusts. Pinch the dough around the edges (I'm not too fancy with forks and decorations), connecting all the dough. Make several small cuts in the top of the pies. Pop them in the oven for roughly 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Once out of the oven you really want to let it sit and settle for 45 minutes to an hour. To be honest it’s even better made the day before and reheated the next day.

*To reheat, put it in a casserole dish and into a 350-375 degree oven for roughly a half hour or as I told my brother after he inquired how long to heat the one I gave him, “I don’t know, until it’s done.”

There's no re-invention of the wheel on this one. Just a good hearty chicken pot pie to warm you up on a cold winter's night that I hope you enjoy. 

   

Beef Roulade, auf Detusche, Roulanden

This was a simple dish my Oma used to make all the time growing up. It was inexpensive and easy to make. The word roulade comes from the French and essentially is rolled meat. Many cultures in Europe have their own version of it, in Germany it’s called Roulanden.

It all starts with the cut of meat. You want to use thin round steaks and when I say thin, I’m talking about 1/5” thick. If you can’t get your butcher to cut it this way and you’re handy with a knife, you can do it yourself, usually by partially freezing the meats prior to slicing. Once you have the correct thickness you want to tenderize it and continue to thin and flatten it out as much as possible. The traditional German recipe calls for mustard, bacon, onions and pickles. I’ve omitted the pickles because my Oma never made it that way and in this I was trying to recreate her version as much as possible.

Anyway, salt and pepper your steak. Smear some mustard on the steak, just enough to lightly coat it. I suppose any old mustard will do (except the dreaded yellow mustard, because nobody needs to use that stuff!), I used a good Dijon mustard for my dish. Put a little of the bacon and raw onions on the steak. Next comes the tricky part. You want to roll everything up as tightly as you can, holding it all together with 2 toothpicks. Dredge the rolled meat in some flour just to lightly coat the exterior. Heat up your pan and melt around 2 tablespoons of butter, along with a  drop or two of olive oil so the butter doesn’t burn. Brown the little rolled meats on all sides (or as many sides as you can, given the toothpicks). Remove from pot. De glaze the pot with a little beef stock and get up whatever little brown bits are at the bottom of the pot. Add the rolled meats back to the pot and add more beef stock until it almost covers the top of the meat. After bringing to boil, cover and simmer until the meat is fork tender, usually around an hour and a half. You can also cook these in the oven if you are making a lot of them. Line them up in a large casserole dish, add beef stock until almost covers meat, cover casserole dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for about hour. When they are done you will know because the meat just falls apart with a fork. At that point, take them out of the pot or casserole dish and get ready to add the thickening agent for the gravy. I use cornstarch because unlike flour, I don’t have to spend a lot of time cooking the flavor out of it. I usually eyeball it in a teacup, adding about 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and just enough cold water to dissolve the cornstarch. Once that’s mixed I simmer the gravy and add it one spoonful at a time until the gravy reaches the appropriate thickness. Taste it and add salt and pepper if needed.  

Traditionally my Oma would serve this with boiled white potatoes. I always felt they were a little too “vanilla” or boring, so I typically serve it with creamy mashed potatoes or spaetzle, a German noodle and then whatever vegetable you like. 

Ingredients:

8 thinly sliced round steaks

4-6 slabs of bacon

1 medium onion roughly chopped

2-3 tablespoons mustard

salt & pepper to taste

Serves 4

Can't go wrong with bacon and onions

Ideal thickness

Ready to spread the mustard before wrapping with onion and bacon

lightly floured and browning in oil

Ready to close the lid and simmer until tender!