More Roast Rib & Experimental Potatoes

Day off today as the Italian is doing lunch, a primo of beetroot ravioli served with butter and poppy seeds and some traditional Italian sausage from the mountains known as Cotechino cooked with lentils. All of which means I get to sit up here in the study drinking prosecco and blogging about last weekend :-)

We had guests for the first time in a while, as my parents were down to stay for a few days, and that coupled with the fact that our sugo supplies had been running low meant that we decided it was time to get a Rib of Beef back on the table. I've blogged before about how wonderful I think this cut of meat is, as it's relatively straightforward to cook, has practically the best flavour of any cut of beef, and makes for the best leftovers as well, hence is incredibly thrifty even though it seems to cost a bomb when you buy it.

Mum & Dad often come down to visit, more often that not twice a year, and it's always great company to have them around for a few days. We live a long way away from each other (though not quite as far as the in-laws it has to be said) so when we do see each other it's always nice to have plenty of time to catch up and share what we've all been up to. Yes the phone, email, skpye and the rest of them play their part, but you can't beat face-to-face time. And whatever the wonderful benefits of ICTs may be, it'll be many years before they'll allow us to share a few good bottles of wine and some great food together!

So, back to the rib. This was was shade under 4 kilos, 3 ribs from the sirloin end, my favourite bit, and well hung so showing a fair bit of dark colour on that end.


Scored, seasoned and ready for the oven. The butcher had sawed the ribs this time before I had a chance to tell him not to, as I usually prefer my beef unchined.

I cooked it my usual way, something which I've perfected for my fan oven over the years, but I'll share it here with you in case it works for you too.

1. Beef out of the fridge at least 1 hour before cooking, preferably longer but depends just how large your piece of meat is.
   If it's not room temperature to start then you've got a lot more heat to push into the meat, and this will affect how well it cooks deep into the piece you have.
2. Well seasoned with plenty of salt and black pepper, and then 20 mins in a pre-heated fan oven at ~210C
   The hot initial cooking will start to turn that fat crispy and run off some of the thinner stuff into the pan ready for basting. Temp wise so long as it's more than 200C it'll do the trick.
3. Oven down to 150C, meat out and basted with the fat (removing some now for the roasties and/or yorkshires if there's plenty), then back in the oven again for 8 minutes per 500g.
   Important here not to leave the oven open. My method leaves the oven to cool down to 150C over time, whereas some other recipes will do a half hour initial cook. I often only ever baste the meat at this stage, which will give you crispier fat, though this may depend on your own oven. 
4. Out of the oven and under foil for 30 minutes to rest before carving.
   I guess most people are familiar with why you rest meat, but if you're not then please just try it. It's all to do with the way meat fibres tense up with heat, but rather than go into the science you're best off trying and then enjoying it yourself!

So that's my way with rib. It'll give you a pretty rare piece, but you can always give the more squeamish the end bits if necessary. Then it's (relatively) thickly cut, and this time served with yorkshires, buttered carrots, watercress and celeriac potatoes.


Plates loaded ready to go on the table.

So what's with the potatoes? Well there's a bit of a story behind them. They started of as a potato and celeriac puree to go with the duck we were going to have the night before, two big breasts I'd bought that day from Tiverton pannier market from the folks who make Pennies Pates. We had a very elaborate meal planned which included the same beetroot ravioli we're having today, and duck which I'd intended to pan fry and then roast, and serve with a port, chicken stock and star anise reduction which I'd been experimenting with. It was halfway into all this mucking about, up to our ears in various cooking utensils and all sorts of pots bubbling and steaming away, that I opened the duck breasts and wondered what the funny smell was ...

Suffice to say they were very badly off, and a quick check on the sell by date (I'm terrible at checking those things!) revealed the date 12th of February. And it was now the 22nd of February. Dinner was cancelled.

I've not been back to Pennies Pates yet to tell them, to be honest I had better things to do this weekend, but I guess I should have been a bit suspicious that they were offering a free pate with the meat in the first place. Needless to say that the pate has not been touched and will go into the recycling tomorrow, my trust in the company having taken a serious blow. To be fair they've always offered a very interesting selection of cheeses, but I think cheese is where I will leave it. It was the first time I entrusted them to provide me with some meat, and I think the last time as well.

But the potato and celeriac pureee was not lost! True our attempts to turn it into impromptu duchess potatoes were not brilliantly successful, as they tended to melt away into a kind of cross between a biscuit and a pancake, but they were tasty that's for sure. What's more we had so much that they've also now topped two cottage pies (also experimental, but more of that another time!) which will feed about eight I reckon, and that's not to mention all the sugo we've made since as well.


Sugo at the top and cottage pie mix at the bottom, simmering away slowly


All in all lots of fun, and one of the best bits of beef we've had in a while. One other small thing though to note which I should have spotted earlier - if you're going to try experimenting with something like the potatoes don't put them in the same oven as the yorkshires. As they were so wet they steamed, and took the crunch out of my puddings a bit.