Prime Rib. It’s royalty. You may be asking yourself “what’s the point? I’ll just cook a beautiful ribeye in the pan”. Do you know what, you absolutely could do that! However, if you want to add a bit of theatre and delicious crispiness to your table, having the bone on the meat to lovingly gnaw on together with your dinner companion, this is the way to go. Obviously a companion that is a part of your household or has tested negative for Covid in advance of your dinner date. A cast iron pan is really useful for this recipe but if you don’t have one, a deep bottomed frying pan will hold up fine. Kind of. And don’t heat the frying pan in the oven.
Ingredients
Serves 6
- 2/3 Ribeye on the bone (“Prime Rib”). Each should weigh around a kilo. Each one will easily serve two.
- 50g unsalted butter
- 1 Bulb of garlic, halved
- 3 sprigs of thyme
Method
- Remove the meat from the fridge, pat dry with some kitchen paper, generously season with some flakey salt and pepper and place on the side to bring to room temperature
- Preheat the oven to the highest possible heat. This is likely somewhere between 220 – 250oC. Position a rack and baking tray in the middle of the oven and then place your cast iron pan in the oven to heat up.
- When the oven is at temperature, turn the stove on to a high heat and place your heated cast iron pan on the heat. Remove the rack and baking tray and place the side.
- One by one, sear each rib for around three minutes on each side, using tongs to position the bone on the pan to crisp up the edges of the bone. It will smoke. That’s ok. As they are seared, place the rib on the rack. They should have a beautiful crust on them.
- Place the rack with the individual ribs into the oven and cook for 8-10 minutes for a medium-rare. If you want your meat a little less red, go with 12 min. To get the best results use a meat thermometer to check the temperature – 55oC for medium rare and 60oC for medium
- When cooked, remove from the oven and place a knob of butter and a sprig of time on top of each then leave to rest for around 10 minutes
- Place on a board and slice the meat away from the bone so it fans out to display the colour of the meat.
- Serve with the truffled macaroni cheese and green beans.