Thursday, January 17, 2013

Just Do What (Michael) Symon Says


Just Do What (Michael) Symon Says 

For the past several years, my husband and I have treated ourselves at Christmas-time with a prime rib for a very special holiday season meal. With the right TLC, the 'left-overs' (if you can actually bring yourself to call prime rib that) reheat beautifully and we usually get about 3 marvelous dinners, as well as a 'steak and eggs' brunch out of one rib roast.

I've become quite  a fan of The Chew and the fabulous five that host it. Love, love, love them all, but have to admit that I am particularly enamored with Michael Symon. The way he prepares food definitely resonates with me and how I attempt recipes, and I always learn something new every time I watch the show. A few weeks before Christmas, Michael prepared a fabulous prime rib. I was intrigued because rather than just having the rib roast cradled by the butcher, as I usually do, he separated the ribs from the roast and used them as the 'roasting rack.' And you wind up not only with a marvelous rib roast, but some delectable ribs as an added bonus. When my husband ordered our prime rib from our butcher, Larry, he asked Larry to separate the ribs from the roast so that when we picked it up, it was ready to go. 

Since we have had a mild winter, thus far, I still had some marvelous rosemary in my patio herb garden, so I cut several large spikes and used them, as the recipe suggested in between the ribs and the roast. The flavor that imparted was just amazing. The ribs especially were fragrant with the roasted rosemary. 

At about this same time, I had ordered a copy of Michael's book, Carnivore, and was pleased (relieved?) to see that he detailed in the book the same method he demonstrated on TV.  My main concern was overcooking it--it is so easy to overcook a roast like this. But, using Michael's guidelines and my past experience, I'm glad to say that it came out just perfect. This is a very straight-forward, simple and magnificent way to prepare a prime rib and it was just as delicious as it looked! 

Prime Rib Roast and Ribs, prepped for oven.
Going in! Note the fresh Rosemary between roast and ribs.
And, Resting before Carving.
The First Cuts Have Been Made.
Prime Rib, Anyone? 
BabyKhat, my kitchen elf, made sure I kept on track with the cooking.