PRIME RIB WITH MUSTARD AND HERB BUTTER
Recipe by Lynne Curry
This recipe flies in the face of every prime rib recipe you’ve tried before. It’s foolproof and can’t be improved upon, even if you tried! Prime rib with a cook time of 2-3 hours? I’m a believer, and now my family enjoys this recipe for the holidays. Last year I went to Costco on New Year’s Eve, searching for the perfect prime rib for our dinner party. The checker said, “Oh, looks like you guys won’t be eating this beauty tonight!” I said, “Yes, actually, it cooks in two hours!” He just scoffed and said, “Sorry, ma’am, but no rib this size cooks in two hours.” Little did he know, but I had the perfect method in my back pocket!
Serves 8 to 10
INGREDIENTS
For the mustard and herb butter:
4 oz. (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
6 medium cloves garlic
¼ cup loosely packed fresh rosemary leaves
¼ cup loosely packed fresh sage leaves
¼ cup loosely packed fresh thyme leaves
¼ cup Dijon mustard
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the prime rib:
One 5-6 pound boneless beef rib roast, patted dry
2 Tbs. olive oil, if needed, for searing
Melt the butter in an 8-inch skillet over medium heat. Let it foam until it turns light brown and smells nutty, about five minutes. Immediately pour the butter into a small heatproof bowl, leaving most of the milk solids in the bottom of the skillet. Refrigerate the butter until solid, about one hour (or freeze, to speed this up).
Purée the garlic, rosemary, sage, thyme, mustard, Worcestershire, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and one teaspoon pepper with the solidified browned butter in a food processor to make a thick paste. Reserve 1/4 cup of the butter and rub the rest all over the roast. Put the roast fat side-up on a rack set in a roasting pan and let sit at room temperature for one hour before roasting.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 300°. Roast the beef until an instant-read thermometer registers 110° for rare, about 1 1/2 hours, or 115° for medium rare, about 10 minutes more. Remove the roast from the oven. Let sit, tented loosely with foil, for up to two hours (or continue with the recipe).
To sear in the oven: Heat the oven to 475°. Roast until 125° for rare or 130° for medium rare, about 10 minutes.
Or, to sear on the stove: Heat the oil in a heavy 12-inch skillet until shimmering hot. Sear the beef, turning and pressing down with tongs, until browned all over and cooked to desired temperature, about four minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board. If there was no earlier rest between roasting and searing, let the roast rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Slice and serve with the reserved mustard butter.
The beef can be roasted and then sit at room temperature, tented with foil, for up to two hours before the final sear.
