Chuck's Day Off - Salted Roasted Prime Rib, Oven Roasted Potato Fries with Mayonnaise

Although Chuck Hughes does not have a cook book......sad, sad, sad. No worries though, Chuck does have a few recipes on his blog.  Since I tried out his rib recipe 3 times and everyone absolute loved them, I figured I better try some more of his creations.  How could they be bad...the guy is from Montreal of course! But to be on the sure side, I'll test out a few of his meals just to be on the safe side (giggle giggle).

Salted Roasted Prime Rib and Oven Roasted Potato Fries seem simple enough and it looked fantastic when he made it on the food network. So this will be the menu for tonight.

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So I made the prime rib and oven roasted potato fries.  The prime rib was good.  I used a 2 1/2 lb prime rib.  I think this recipe would have been more successful if 1. The prime rib was at least 8 - 10 lbs like it called for in the recipe 2. was cooked on the BBQ.  Although I cut the recipe down to meet the size of my prime rib, I found the meat a bit to salty and the ground peppercorn was a bit too intense.    I love the fact that it was med rare, but I have to say I like my prime rib with either plain and simple or seasoned with  finger licking flavor, such as: mustard, garlic and fresh herbs.

The potatoes were great!  I had to fight my husband and my son for them.  They were way too easy to make and even though they weren't deep fried in old, saturated fat like in Montreal they were still fantastic.

I passed on making the Mayonnaise with Horseradish.  I didn't have any fresh horseradish, and I wasn't about to hit the store with a 22lb sleepy baby on a rainy day.  So I made the cream corn instead.  OH MINE A GOD!!!!  This dish is so dangerously delicious that I've put it in my geriatric food log as one of the foods you can puree for me when I'm 100 and have no teeth and I can't eat solids.  It's SO good that you can kid yourself into believing that it's healthy because your using fresh corn off the cob.  Hmmmmmm!  Who needs meat and potatoes when you have this side dish.  Bravo Chuck! Bravo!

Here are the recipes I tried from Chucks Day Off Web Page.

Ingredients

• 12 cups coarse salt
• 1 cup cracked black peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary and thyme (combined)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 egg whites, lightly whisked
• 3 cups water
• 8 - 10 pound prime rib roast

Directions

1. In a bowl stir the salt and water together and add flour for some extra binding. Froth up the egg whites with a fork, add them and blend until mixture forms a stiff paste resembling wet snow while holding it’s shape when you squeeze it together.
2. Spread the mixture to form a salt bed in the bottom of a large roasting pan, and lay roast on top fat side down.
3. Cover it all over with herbs and cracked black peppercorns., pressing into the roast to make sure it adheres well.
4. Coat it completely with the salt dough, patting it well so that when it roasts it will solidify into a solid casing. It needs to be about ¼ inch thick.
5. Roast the beef in the middle of a preheated 325 degree (165 C) oven for 20 minutes per pound to get medium rare.
6. Transfer to a cutting board, let it rest for 15 minutes and then, cut the casing open and slice in between the bones for nice manly servings. You can also remove the bones and slice thinner if you want

 

Ingredients

• 3 cobs of corn
• 1 cup 35% cream
• 1 big nub of butter
• A pinch of coarse salt
• A grinding of cracked black pepper

Directions

1. Husk the corn cobs and slice the kernels off the cobs and place into a medium saucepan.
2. Add the cream and bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and let it cook and reduce till the liquid is thicker, the corn is plumped up and the volume of liquid is reduced by about half. About 10 minutes.
3. Take it off the heat. Stir in a good nub of butter, add some coarse salt and pepper to taste. The finished result will still be a little firm to the tooth but sweet and creamy, as well.

 

Ingredients

• 4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
• 3 – 4 tbsp olive oil
• A pinch of sea salt
• A grinding of fresh ground black pepper
• A few sprinkles of smoked paprika
• A few sprinkles of steak spice

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees (220 C).
2. Cut potatoes into nice thick ‘handcut fry slices’.
3. Place in large bowl and cover with cold water. You can do this in advance if you want – for up to 24 hours. It helps to remove excess starch.
4. Drain and Pat dry on paper towel. Arrange in single layer on a baking sheet.
5. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika. Bake till tender and golden crispy outside - about 40 minutes.
6. When out of the oven hit them with some dashes of steak spice.

 The Cookbook Addict