Easy standing rib eye roast recipe

How to Cook a Perfect Standing Rib Roast

By: Chef Cristian Feher

www.tampabaychef.com

There are some things that you can make at home, and there are some things you simply have to go to restaurants for. Really succulent prime rib might be one of them.

It might seem like a scary thing to spend over $100 on a cut of meat and have to haul the thing home. After all, what if you screw it up?

With this recipe for prime rib, you will not only make perfect beef every time, but you may never go back to the restaurant again. And now you can be a star at your next family get-together! This recipe has been passed down to me by the extraordinary legion of chefs, and I’m going to pass it on to you, so that you can make a perfect standing rib roast - with no guessing, and no maybes. This recipe comes out perfect every time!

Rib Roast 101: What is a standing rib roast? And is it different from a rib eye? All you have to know is that a ribeye with the rib bones still attached is called a “standing rib roast” - probably because you can stand it up on the ribs. If you get it without the rib bones it’s just called a ribeye roast.

For this recipe you want to get a rib roast that has the rib bones still attached to it. It will not work without the bones, since you will be using a mathematical formula that takes the bones into the equation. If this is too difficult to understand, here it the “for dummies” version: Get the one with the bones attached!

How much meat should I buy? Easy. Calculate 2 servings per bone. If you’re serving 6 people, get a standing rib roast with 3 bones.

The perfect cooking method:  This recipe will only turn out perfect if you do exactly what the instructions say to do.

Don’t do what Donny-Don’t Does! Here are some ways to screw this recipe up. So don’t do them:  Not following the mathematical formula, using cold meat, removing the bones from the rib roast, using meat that is partially frozen, using an oven that doesn’t get hot enough (use an oven thermometer to see if your oven is actually as hot as it says), and opening the oven during the cooking process (you’ll ruin Christmas, trust me). Don’t trim the fat from it either. If you see your butcher starting to get all fancy with his knife like he’s a stylist about to cut Madonna's hair, just stop him right there and tell him to leave the fat on.

How to make perfect, juicy, medium-rare, melt-in-your-mouth, crusty-on-the-outside, crispy-fatted, baby-tender, emotion-inducing, tongue-thrilling, visually-entrancing, super-gastronomically-(#*$$#-happy-joy-joy-you-just-won-$500-on-a-culinary-scratch-n-win-made-of-meat-that-came-out-of-your-oven standing rib roast. It goes great with mashed potatoes, by the way.

Step 1: Leave your meat out on the counter for 4 to 6 hours until the meat comes up to room temperature. This is crucial. Don’t worry about stupid things like “What about bacteria? Eek!” Listen, I and everyone else that has made this recipe has survived unscathed. In fact, after a meal like this you won’t get sick for two years from the sheer pleasure of it, I guarantee it (not an actual guarantee).

Step 2: Spread soft butter all over the meat. Sprinkle with adobo seasoning and sprinkle with lots of truffle salt. You can find truffle salt online at amazon.com, or you can buy it at William Sonoma - it’s as good as it sounds.

Step 3: Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. Make sure the oven has reached 500 F before you put the beef inside.

Step 4: Put your beef, ribs-down, in a baking pan. I like to use a rack in my pan, but it’s not absolutely necessary.

Step 5: Here is the math. Find out how many pounds your rib roast weighs. Multiply each pound X 5. This number will be the minutes that you will cook it at 500 degrees in the oven. Example. If your roast weighs 7 Lbs. 7 X 5 = 35. Therefore, you will cook your beef in the oven at 500 degrees for 35 minutes. If you are not good at math and do not understand this formula, go to your nearest neighbor for help. Choose the one with the most expensive car, they probably have a good grasp of mathematics. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR ONCE YOU HAVE STARTED COOKING.

Step 6: When you’ve reached the end of the cooking minutes, turn the oven off and let the beef sit in there for 2 more hours. Do not open the door - not even once throughout this process. If you get nervous, go get a massage, or mow your lawn a few times. Just don’t open the door, or you will let the heat out and ruin your beef.

Step 7: Once the two hours have elapsed, it’s time to break your beef out of solitary and carve it up. You will not need to let it rest since, technically, it’s been resting for two hours. Just slice off the bones from the bottom, and carve your beef to your heart’s content - actually, to your stomach’s content. Your heart would probably prefer a lean chicken breast, but who wants that?

I hope this recipe will brighten your day. You can visit my facebook page for more photos, recipes, and and stuff at 

http://www.facebook.com/tampa.personal.chef

Good beefing to you!



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Kenmore elite hybrid water softener

Soft Water in the Kitchen
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

As a chef I spend a lot of time choosing the right vegetables, picking the right meats and carefully combining herbs, spices and seasonings to make the best foods I possibly can. I’m always working towards making better food. And I have realized that I’ve been overlooking the most important and most abundant ingredient, common in all food - water.

Water could be described as a clear, odorless, non-reactive liquid (unless you drop an electric toaster into it). So, how could water make such a difference as an ingredient? Because not all water is created the same - better put, not all water contains the same stuff.

The combination of contents in your water varies largely depending on which part of the world you live in. You may find anything ranging from dissolved rocks (calcium and magnesium), to traces of pharmaceutical drugs, and birth control hormones, to radioactive barium particles, to chlorine and other smelly additives. The combinations are endless, and the realization that these things are in my water make me a little hesitant to bathe in it, let alone cook with it. I also wonder how these contents could actually affect my dishes. Could they alter the consistency and taste? Common sense tells me, yes.

Today I embarked on a very exciting experiment. I installed a Kenmore elite hybrid water softener in my house. This is an appliance that attaches to the main water line of your home and turns “hard water” into “soft water” by removing dissolved solids like calcium, iron, and magnesium.

Because it is hybrid, this particular unit also works to reduce potentially radioactive particles (barium and radium), and dramatically lessens smells and tastes in the tap water caused by chlorine and similarly added chemicals.

Here in Clearwater, Florida, they have a habit of adding large amounts of chlorine to disinfect the county water system. And for several weeks during the year I am forced to cook with what smells and tastes like pool water! We also have a high amount of dissolved rock in the water, making a crusty mess of sinks, shower heads, and faucets.

Unfortunately, water softeners are not install-it-yourself appliances (unless you’re good at plumbing). It took a professional plumber several hours to connect this system to my main water line and run a drain pipe from the softener to my drain line. The unit will expel a salty brine of all the stuff it removes from my tap water several times per week, leaving me with fresh, soft water.

I am very excited to have this appliance in my home and am looking forward to seeing how this affects my household water usage and most importantly, my cooking.  Removing dissolved rocks, chlorine and radiation from my soups, sauces, and foods makes me hopeful that I can improve my cooking on a very basic level. I will update you in a few weeks and let you know the results of the Kenmore elite water softener.

Until then, I wish you happy cooking!

how to make raspberry vinaigrette recipe

Raspberry Vinaigrette Recipe
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

You can save a lot of calories by making your own salad dressings - not to mention saving money too. This is a very easy and simple recipe that you can whip together in less than 5 minutes to go with your fresh salad.

After you make this recipe, you can try it again with all kinds of different berries for a variety of different variations.

Generally speaking (and depending on what vinegar you’re using) a vinaigrette is made with 2 to 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. With this recipe I like to use 3 parts oil to 1 part red wine vinegar.

If you want to cut some calories from the fat (oil), you can do 1 part water, 2 parts oil and 1 part red wine vinegar. A little cold water will actually help the mixture emulsify (makes the mixture thick) and stay that way longer!

Ingredients:

- 2/3 cup olive oil

- 1/3 cup cold water

- 1/3 cup of red wine vinegar

- Honey to taste

- Salt to taste

- 6oz fresh raspberries

5. Put the oil, balsamic vinegar, honey and berries in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Or place them in a bowl and blend them with a hand blender until smooth.

How to make a fig salad

Roman Fig Salad Recipe

By: Chef Cristian Feher

www.tampabaychef.com

Fig Salad © Cristian Feher 2012

If you want to roll like an affluent Roman, starting your feast with fresh figs is what I recommend!

Fresh figs are seasonal, and you may not be able to find them all year round. But when they’re available I scoop them up quickly!

You might be familiar with figs in their processed form - as the paste filling inside Fig Newtons. But fresh from the tree they are soft in texture and subtle in taste. And this allows them to take on other flavors very well. I always like to pair them with some sort of soft cheese.

Fresh figs should be brownish in color and really soft to the touch. The skin will be brittle, so handle them gently.

When using olive oil it’s very important that you always taste your olive oil beforehand. Olive oil is light sensitive - which means that it degrades as it sits in a clear bottle and often it’s gone bad on the store shelf before you bring it home. Once you open it and air gets in, it starts oxidizing. Always make sure to get your olive oil in small metal tins and that you use it up quickly.

When you taste your olive oil it must not be bitter at it must not be spicy on the back of your throat. These two flavors tell you that it’s gone bad. And you can ruin a nice salad by using rancid olive oil. So, always taste it before you use it.

This is the easiest recipe for fresh figs. All you will need is red onion, a soft cheese like Boursin or goat cheese, and good quality olive oil.

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:
- 8 to 12 fresh figs
- 1/2 red onion diced
- Boursin or goat cheese
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Sea salt
- Olive oil
- Red Wine Vinegar (optional)

Instructions:

1. Gently wash your figs under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut them in half and place them face up on a plate

2. Dice half a red onion and sprinkle over the figs.

3. If your cheese is crumbly, sprinkle some cheese crumbles over the figs. If your cheese is thick, scoop a ball of cheese and put it in the middle of the figs so that your guests can serve themselves a piece of it.

4. Drizzle with a few swirls of olive oil and if you like, you can sprinkle a little red wine vinegar over top.

5. Add some salt and fresh pepper to taste. Enjoy!

How to make a healthy salad

Is your salad actually healthy?

By: Chef Cristian Feher

www.tampabaychef.com

Baby kale salad © Cristian Feher 2012

Whether you've decided to get back in shape and lose weight, or you just want to improve your dietary habits, most of us turn to salad. For most of us, "salad" translates to "healthy food". But is your salad really all that healthy?

The answer to that is: Depends on how you make your salad, and what the word "healthy" means to you. If "healthy" means low in calories and fat, and high in vitamins and nutrients, then we're on the same page.

A salad should provide your body with a food break. It should provide you with enzymes, vitamins and minerals to help your digestive system get over all the heavy foods you've been eating. Remember that if your reason for eating salads is to lose weight, you already have fat on your body, and you don't need to add more fat to your salad. A salad should not be a high calorie meal.  

I'll have a couple of fast food burgers on my salad! If preceding sentence sounds ridiculous, think about all the extra stuff you can add to an innocent salad: croutons, cheese, eggs, cold cuts, and thick, fatty, sugary salad dressings like thousand island, ranch, Caesar or blue cheese. While not all of these are necessarily "unhealthy", it's very easy to add an extra 500-1000 calories to a simple salad by adding these items. And doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Realize that simple olive oil (any oil) is high in calories and should be used sparingly. For example; 1/4 cup of olive oil is about 450 calories! Yes, it's "healthy" but it's high in calories.

Different shades of green. Are all greens created equal? Definitely not. The darker green the better. Darker greens such as spinach, kale and dark-colored lettuces have lots of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and chlorophyll. Those are all good for you, and those are the main things you want to get out of eating a nice salad. Light colored lettuces like iceberg and romaine have virtually no vitamins or minerals - they're mostly water and cellulose and have very little nutritional value. So the main ingredient should always be a dark, leafy green.

The idea behind eating a salad for health is that you lower the fat, and calories. An ideal salad should include a simple vinaigrette made with a little bit of olive oil, an acid (like red wine vinegar or lemon juice), garlic, herbs, sea salt and pepper. The main focus should be on  fresh vegetables and dark, leafy greens such as kale, spinach and dark lettuces. You can also add berries, nuts and dried fruit (very sparingly) for extra flavor. You can even skip the oils altogether to speed up your weight loss. I often enjoy seasoning my salads with red wine vinegar, fresh garlic, herbs, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. And did you know that apple cider vinegar is a known blood thinner? This can keep your body cooler in hot weather.

I hope this crash course on salads gets you heading in the right direction as far as nutrition and health is concerned. Do you have a great salad recipe? You can share it with me at  tampabaychef@gmail.com

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