Horseradish Crusted Standing Beef Roast

When I first moved to the US, as a teenager in 1962, I discovered that American Jews – except for Passover – only ate horseradish with gefilte fish. Back in Uruguay, where I lived prior to immigrating to these shores, we would have horseradish with meat at almost any time we ate meat (daily!). In America that suddenly wasn’t cool… Arguing with Americans on this was futile… ahh, the American Jewish palate seemed so uneducated at that time. Fast forward 49 years… and we caught up with the rest of the world, we adapted all their seemingly strange foods and often improved them. When I came across this recipe, by Laura Frankel, it brought back some great memories and I knew i’d have to try it tonight.

Detail of photo from: theheritagecook.com

Serves 6-8

Something wonderful happens to horseradish when it is cooked. The pungent root vegetable so tearfully familiar during Pesach becomes sweet and savory once cooked and slathered all over gorgeous beef. The king of all meat cuts is a perfect celebratory gorgeous hunk of meat. It looks intimidating-but is actually really easy and can be done ahead of time and kept warm.

Ingredients

• 1 4-rib roast (about 9 pounds), cut from the small end or first cut with the chine bone cut off (ask your butcher to tie the bones on to the roast)
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 red peppers, coarsely chopped
• 2 carrots, coarsely chopped
• 3 plum tomatoes, cut in half
• 4 tablespoons fresh cracked black pepper
• 6 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 cup prepared white horseradish
• 2 bulbs of garlic, roasted and the soft garlic squeezed out
• 1 750 ml bottle dry red wine (I prefer Cabernet Sauvignon)

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

1. Lay the rib roast, bone side down, in a large heavy duty roasting pan. Scatter the vegetables around the roast. These will be the base for wine sauce later.
2. Season the roast with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Mix the horseradish and roasted garlic together.
3. Generously smear the mixture over the rib roast. Place the prepared roast in the pre-heated oven and roast for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature of the oven to 325 and roast for an additional 60 minutes.
4. Insert a meat thermometer into the the thickest part of the roast and when the temperature registers 115 (for rare-medium rare)-remove the roast. Loosely tent the meat with foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes. This will allow the final temperature to be around 125-130. The internal temperature will continue to rise in a process called carry-over cooking.
5. Remove the meat and place the roasting pan over a burner at medium heat. Add the wine and gently scrape up any brown bits with a wooden spoon. Continue cooking until the wine has reduced by ½. Strain out the vegetables and discard. Adjust seasoning with salt and fresh cracked pepper.
6. Remove the bones and slice the meat. Serve on a platter with wine sauce and sautéed mushrooms if desired.
7. To hold the meat for Shabbat-once the meat has reached the desired temperature, turn off the oven and remove the meat as in step 4. After the meat has rested and any carry over cooking is finished-return the meat back to the warm oven-allow the door to stand slightly open and the meat will stay warm for another 30 minutes or more.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Yom Tov Recipes – Rib Roast

[Chef Eran Elhalal, has repeatedly delighted us with his recipes and his encyclopedic knowledge of cheese types, wines, etc. Once again he follows that trend with this superb yom tov recipe. He constantly surprises us with the subtle variations, to the tried and true, he introduces and the truly rewarding results. CS]

Who’s Afraid of a Rib Roast?

Roast beef is the perfect entrée for an end of summer feast, and Rosh Hashana is that feast! A well prepared roast is both festive and rustic , simple to make yet impressive.

I chose to prepare a rib roast for this year’s Rosh Hashana because the forecast is for a hot day and roasts along with all other dry cooking methods yield a lighter result than proteins prepared using moist cooking methods ( Stews, Braises, poached meats…) which we prefer in the winter.

Many home cooks fear the large roast, for no other reason other than the fact that they had made a disastrous one at some point and do not want to waste an expensive piece of meat, or be embarrassed at the dinner table by a tough, overcooked dry result.

Now, a great roast is easy! It is all about high quality ingredients and following the guidelines to a tee . No shortcuts please!

The best kosher cuts of beef used for roasting are : Tenderloin /Fillet (only the front end) and the Rib (bone in , boneless, rolled), the deboned cuts are also referred to as Striploin (American market term or Entrecote ( French term).

Ingredients:

1 Rib Roast, bone in and trussed. Make sure you know exactly how much your cut weighs.

1 bunch Thyme

2 Tbsp oil

Salt

Coarse ground black pepper

Preparation:

1. -Rub salt and pepper all around the roast and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. -Remove from the fridge and allow to reach room tempo , about 1 hour. The result will be much more tender that way.

3. -Preheat the oven to 450 F.

4. -Place the meat over a layer of Thyme sprigs in a roasting pan.

5. -Drizzle the top with the oil and put in the oven for 15 minutes. This gives the initial sear that seals the pores in the meat, keeping it beautifully moist inside, and also caramelizes the meat (called: Maillard Reaction – starches turn to sugars when they reach 310 F), which yields that sweet charred flavor we love!

6. -Continue to roast for 12 minutes for every Lb. This is why the uncooked weight is important. ( Example : For a 5 Lb Bone in Rib roast you would need 15 minutes+ (12 mins*5Lb)= 75 minutes toal).

7. -Remove from the oven, cover loosely and allow to rest for 10 minutes above the oven before slicing. Resist the urge! This allows the juices to redistribute evenly in the meat .

Enjoy!

Eran Elhalal (crossposted from eranelhalal.com)