Christmas lunch

Prime Rib Roast

Let roast stand at room temperature 2 hours.  Heat oven to 500.   Salt and pepper well. Roast @500 for 45 minutes.  Turn down oven to 350 for 35 minutes.  Turn up to 450 and finish roasting to 127. Let stand 20 minutes. (temp. coasted up to 133) Make yorkshire pudding.

Yorkshire Pudding Recipe:    http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/food-lab-yorkshire-pudding-popover-best-method-science.html

A traditional English side dish to Prime Rib Roast is Yorkshire Pudding, a puffy pop-over like pastry. Yorkshire Puddings, fresh from the oven, should be well-risen and golden brown w8h a crisp exterior and soft middle.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3 eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup milk, room temperature

1/2 cup pan drippings from roast prime rib of beef (beef juices and oil)*

* If you do not have enough pan drippings, add melted butter.

At least two (2) hours or overnight before you will need this Yorkshire Pudding batter, prepare the batter (minus pan drippings), and place in the refrigerator.

Yorkshire Pudding is cooked after you have taken your cooked prime rib roast out of the oven and you are letting it sit for the required resting period.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt.

In another bowl, beat together the eggs and milk until light and foamy. Stir in the flour/salt mixture just until incorporated and smooth. NOTE: The batter will be like a very thin pancake batter

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two (2) hours (for best results, refrigerate overnight).

Directions for Cooking Yorkshire Pudding:

Traditionally Yorkshire Pudding is made in one large dish or your meat roasting pan and cut into wedges. For individual servings, I have found it is much easier to prepare them in muffin tins or popover pans. You be the judge of how you would like to cook and serve them. See photos below.

After you take your cooked prime rib out of the oven, increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

Pour the cooked prime rib meat drippings into your baking pan or muffin tins of choice. For a popover version, use popover pans or muffin pans, putting at least 1 teaspoon of meat drippings in the bottom of each well

Place the pan or pans in your oven and get the drippings smoking hot (about 5 minutes). Carefully take the hot pan/pans out of the oven. NOTE: The fat in the popover or muffin tins should be almost smoking.

Scalloped potatoes made from box mix.

 Garlic Blue Cheese Sauce Recipe:

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 medium garlic clove, thinly sliced

6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat, bring cream and garlic just to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until the cream coats the back of a spoon, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in the crumbled blue cheese. Season to taste with the pepper. Can be made 2 days in advance. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.

To serve, pass the Garlic Blue Cheese Sauce on the side.

Makes approximately 2 cups.

Shrimp Cocktail Recipe:

Yields: 4 Servings

Prep time: 10 min

Ingredients:

Fresh or frozen cooked and cleaned shrimp with tails-on and thawed*

Fresh parsley for garnish 

Fresh lemon slices for garnish

* If your shrimp are frozen, thaw overnight in the bag in the refrigerator, or remove shrimp from bag, thaw in a colander or strainer under cold running water for about three minutes. Use immediately.

Preparation:

Prepare Cocktail Sauce. Place cocktail sauce in a martini glass, drinking glass, or any decorating bowl.

Place several fresh shrimp on the rim of the glass with the tails on the outside.

Make one cut in each lemon slice starting at the center and cutting through to the outside. Place a cut lemon slice on each glass where you made the cut so that it stands up. Add a sprig of parsley and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

COCKTAIL SAUCE:

Recipe by Dave Bucholz of Clackamas, OR

1/2 cup chili sauce or catsup 

2 tablespoons hot cream-style horseradish 

1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper 

2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice

4 drops Tabasco

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce 

2 garlic cloves, minced

In a small bowl, mix ingredients together to taste, cover and chill until ready to serve and to develop flavor.

Makes 2/3 cup.

Caesar Salad Recipe - Classic Caesar Salad Recipe:

Yields: 2 to 4 servings (depending on size of servings)

Prep time: 30 min

1/2 to 3/4 cup homemade croutons (see directions below)

1 coddled egg (see directions below)*

1 to 2 teaspoons finely-chopped garlic (1 to 2 medium cloves with inner green germ removed - the sprouts add an unpleasant bitterness)

1 to 2 anchovy fillets, mashed**

Pinch of coarse salt

2 tablespoons (1/2 lemon) freshly-squeezed lemon juice***

3 drops Worcestershire sauce

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) freshly-grated Parmesan Cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano), divided

2 to 3 heads Romaine lettuce, hearts and tender leaves only

Coarsely-ground black pepper

* Coddled egg may be substituted with 1/2 cup mayonnaise. If doing this substitution, reduce some of the olive oil. Better yet, make Linda's easy-to-make and very delicious Low-Fat Caesar Salad Dressing.

** Fresh squeezed lemon juice is essential. Some chefs squeeze the lemon through a cheesecloth to ensure that only the juice ends up in the salad. If you are careful to keep the lemon seeds out of the salad, a simple squeeze will do.

Making Croutons

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Trim the crust from day-old peasant-style bread (Italian or French bread) and dice into 3/4-inch cubes. Toss with enough olive oil to coat, but not drench. Sprinkle lightly with salt and spread out on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until just golden brown. Halfway through the baking time, give the pan a shake to make sure the croutons toast evenly. Remove from oven and completely cool croutons. Store in an airtight container.

Cherries Jubilee        Yields: 4 to 6 servings     Prep time: 15 min

Ingredients:

1 can (16-ounce) cherry pie filling

1/2 cup brandy

Good-quality vanilla ice cream 

Almonds

Preparation:

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the cherries.

In another small saucepan, heat brandy (it won't flame unless it is heated).

Spoon ice cream into goblets and spoon heated cherries over ice cream. Pour the heated brandy over the warm cherries and ignite.

Sprinkle with sliced almonds and serve.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.