Foolproof Standing Rib Roast

Happy New Year!  This holiday season has been really busy and super fun!  I enjoyed getting together with family and friends.   As for me, I feel it's also a good reason to make more elaborate or upscale meals.  What I love about this recipe is that it sounds elaborate but it's rather easy!  This was the main course that I made when I hosted Christmas Eve supper.  I chose it because I knew that the family really appreciates steak and potatoes and I knew that I could prep things in advance in order to focus on other things just before the guests arrived.

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about cooking a prime rib roast because I had never attempted it before.  I've made other beef roasts with more inexpensive cuts of meat but I know that with a prime rib roast (or standing roast) you are paying top dollar for good quality meat and you definitely don't want to serve it under or overdone.  The beauty of this recipe is that it's pretty foolproof.  I bought a 6 lbs roast and I followed the recipe without adding on extra cooking time and it came out a perfect medium rare.  Although, I wouldn't recommend using the same cooking time with a roast less than 4 lbs.

So I know I mentioned that this recipe wasn't very elaborate; however, I did have fun putting together an entire menu and I think the whole meal was rather complete.  It's not something that I would make for just a regular Sunday meal but it was the holidays and it's fun to put more thought into everything in order to make it special.  Here's what I made:

Appetizers:
Cheese plate with charcuterie
Smoked Salmon Pinwheels
Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Dates

Main:
Standing Rib Roast
Homemade Gravy
Twice Baked Potatoes
Homemade Caesar Salad

Desserts:
Opera Cake
Strawberry Macarons
Pecan Pie Thumbprint Cookies
Vanilla Sablé Cookies
Decorated Sugar Cookies

What helped make all of this possible was that I had previously made all of the desserts during that week and the cookies were ones that I made to put in goodie bags.  The twice baked potatoes were made ahead of time following the guidelines of The Pioneer Woman's recipe and they were reheated in the oven while the roast rested and while I was preparing the gravy.  Also, while the roast was in the oven I had time to prepare my appetizers and salad.  Everything turned out amazing and I will be sharing more dessert recipes soon!  I loved the holidays and now that it's over I'm going to have to stop over-indulging and test out some healthier recipes!

Foolproof Standing Rib Roast
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients
1 (5-pound) standing rib roast
1 tablespoon House Seasoning, recipe follows

Allow roast to stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F.  Rub roast with House Seasoning; place roast on a rack in the pan with the rib side down and the fatty side up.  Roast for 1 hour.  Turn off oven.  Leave roast in oven but do not open oven door for 3 hours.  About 30 to 40 minutes before serving time, turn oven to 375 degrees F and reheat the roast.  Let the roast rest before carving.

Important: Do not remove roast or re-open the oven door from time roast is put in until ready to serve.

House Seasoning
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Source:  Paula Deen from The Food Network