Prime Rib

As I arrived back in Midland from my family trip to Florida, I saw that Jack's Farmers' Market had boneless rib roasts on sale.  Since I needed something to eat for the few days in town before leaving for New Orleans, I figured what the heck.  After all, my brother, Steve, told me about the roast he made for Christmas and it sounded really good.  Now, this was my first attempt at making prime rib, so I started out doing some research.  After my debacle with the ham in the crockpot, I decided to actually roast it in the over (as it should always be done).  But there are a lot of different recipes out there and it was hard to decipher the best way to prepare it.  So, I contacted my brother and got his input.  First things first, you must do a dry brine with these cuts.  That means rubbing the meat with kosher salt and placing it, uncovered, in the refrigerator at least 2 hours (in this case, I did overnight - about 10 hours). 

Once you have it brined, you then must take it out and allow it to come to room temperature, at least 2 hours.  Now, my poor brother tried to make yorkshire puddings in between roasting and searing the roast and ended up with an oven fire, so he didn't get to sear.  But I managed to do all the steps, so here's how it works.  Oh, and did I mention that this recipe is only 3 ingredients?

Prime Rib Roast

• 5-5 1/2 lb boneless rib roast
• Kosher salt
• Fresh-ground pepper

 The night before roasting, prepare a dry brine.  Rub the roast on all sides with kosher salt and place, uncovered, in refrigerator.

The next day, pull the roast out and allow to come to room temperature, at least 2 hours on the counter. 

Preheat oven to 350F.  Season roast with pepper (remember that it has already been salted).  Place on a roasting pan and roast for 1 hour.  Without opening the oven, turn off the heat.  Allow to sit for 1 hour.  Then turn oven on to 400F and set timer for 1/2 hour.  This will allow for the sear.  Once done, pull from over and place on a cutting board.  Allow to sit for 15 minutes before slicing (although, there was still a bit more blood after slicing than I like, so 30 minutes might be better).

Note: Although this picture shows close to medium-rare, it is still a bit more cooked than I prefer, so I would probably shorten the cooking time just a little.  But it was still closer to medium-rare than medium, so it was all good.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza!

Because our paint night was cancelled tonight, I invited my friend, Lawrence, to come over and have dinner.  He had a friend in town who had come to cheer Lawrence on in his Santa Clause race in the morning.  I met this friend a month or so ago and he's very interesting.  He works in Aeronautics.  Because he's in a science world, I find him fascinating.  So always glad to have the two of them to dinner.  And now that I have my own beautiful house, I have the space to entertain AND I have a beautiful kitchen to cook in. 

Thus, it was a very busy day of cooking and cleaning.  It started with "Christmas Crack" or Chex mix.  This would be my third batch this year and I try to only make it when I have an excuse to share.  This was followed by Magic Bars (my version this year has dark chocolate and PB chips).  Finally, to the main dish. About two months ago, I updated my pizza supplies, including individual sized deep dish pizza pans.  Seeing them on the counter made me want to try my hand at making Chicago-style deep dish pizza.  I have resisted doing this in the past because I love the crust and I am always worried that the recipes are not quite right.  There is a different texture to Chicago pizza crust and that is what I love able it.  After some searching, I found a recipe to try out.  But at the same time, I decided that I would also make my own pizza sauce for this (given that I have those beautiful home-canned tomatoes).

Well, the result was incredible.  The crust was light and crunchy, exactly what I expected.  We chose sausage and pepperoni (very traditional) and I made my own sauce which was exactly right for this pizza.  Can't wait to try it again and change up the fillings.

Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza
Adapted from:www.bunsinbyoven.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/chicago-deep-dish-pizza-recipe.jpg

For crust

•  3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 cups flour
•  1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp suger
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp corn meal

For sauce

• 1/2 large onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 28-oz jar home-canned tomatoes
• 2 tsp dried basil (during the spring/summer, consider using 2 Tbsp fresh basil)

Fillings

• 1 1/2 cups part-skim mozzarella
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
• 15 slices turkey pepperoni

To make crust:
Add the water and yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Let sit 5 minutes.  Add flour, oil, sugar, salt and corn meal to the bowl and turn the mixer to low.  Mix until just combined and increase speed to medium, kneading for 2 minutes.  Place the dough ball into a large, greased bowl and set in a warm place for up to 6 hours (or until dough has doubled).  

To make the sauce:
While the dough is rising, make the sauce.  In this case, I cooked and crumbled the sausage in a large skillet.  Once cooked, remove the sausage to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain.  Remove all but 1 Tbsp of the drippings.  Add onions and cook until starting to brown.  Add garlic and cook one minute longer.  Add tomatoes and basil.  If tomatoes are whole, halved or quartered, use an immersion blender to puree until consistency of pureed tomatoes (you may use pureed tomatoes as well).  Cook for about 20 minutes to meld flavors.

To assemble pizza:
Preheat oven to 475F.  Lightly butter 3 individual-sized deep dish pizza pans (or a 12-inch cast iron skillet).  Sprinkle with additional corn meal.  Punch down the dough and let rest for 15 minutes.  Divide into three balls and place one in each prepared pan.  Use your fingers to press it into the bottom of the pans and up the sides. 

Sprinkle crust with mozzarella cheese (this keeps crust from becoming soggy).  Layer sausage and pepperoni.  Then spoon sauce over all.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until crust is browned and the edges of the pepperoni that peek through the sauce are also browned.  Allow to set for 5 minutes before cutting.