“Laughter is brightest where food is best.” —Irish Proverb
I love cooking for people, especially when the guests are people I have never met, or perhaps for people who have paid a large sum of money to be guests at my table, with the proceeds helping others.
November of 2023, I agreed to donate a dinner for eight people for the Valley Churches Ruby Gala. This was the sixth dinner I have prepared over the last 12 years for Valley Churches United. The money the dinner brings in purchases food for those San Lorenzo Valley residents who are low income and needing extra help.
I believe I have had some of the best times of my life planning the menu, shopping for and cooking the foods they have chosen.
Last week was an exception; I did know my guests and they are people who are all “givers,” both with their time and money, making the lives of our local seniors happier and healthier.
The menu for this dinner was sent out to them with several choices for each course, and Prime Rib of Beef was chosen as their entrée.
My guests chose Pate Choux Puffs filled with a chilled shrimp, celery and scallion salad as their appetizer. Mumm’s Brut Champagne helped wash down the puffs.
Following the appetizer was a French Onion Soup, topped with Gruyere Cheese-laced Baguettes.
For the soup and to serve four, slice 8 cups of dried yellow onions pole to stem and 1/4th inch thick. Add 2 minced cloves of garlic and 1 Tbsp granulated sugar to encourage browning. Put in soup pot with 1 stick of butter. Sauté until all liquid is gone and onions turn golden brown. Takes about an hour. Keep stirring and do not let burn. When golden brown add 3 Tbsp. flour to onion mixture and cook 3-4 minutes. Add 6-8 cups of Beef Stock (I make my own). Simmer 1 hour. Pour into ovenproof bowls and top with baguette and gruyere cheese. Place under broiler until cheese melts.
Between courses and to cleanse palette, a small cup of Lemon Sorbet followed.
Chosen for dinner’s sides were Tomatoes filled with Green Peas and Hollandaise Sauce and steamed Asparagus.
To make the tomatoes, I chose a 2 -1/2 in. round tomato, cut the top off about half an inch down from the stem and with a spoon, hollow-out the seeds. Set aside the stem and top. Salt the insides of the tomatoes and turn upside-down on paper towels to drain.
Fill inside of tomato with green peas (sometimes I add small pieces of carrots as well) and pour in Hollandaise sauce or melted butter. Top with a teaspoon of parmesan cheese. Bake in oven (I use my toaster oven) at 300deg. for half an hour. Add tomato top when serving.
The entrée, a medium-rare cut of melt-in-your-mouth Prime Rib, was topped with Au Jus, and a dish of Horseradish/sour cream was served alongside.
Complementing the prime rib, I served a dry Storrs Chardonnay and a Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir.
Dessert served came from Julia Child’s Cookbook, “The Art of French Cooking,” which is a “must have” in my kitchen.
I chose warm Crepes Suzettes with a ground almond and orange zest butter filling, and drizzled with Brandy and Orange Cointreau liquors. My flambé, this time, did NOT flambé even though the crepes were hot as well as the liquor.
Oh well, as Julia said… “have a ‘what the hell’ attitude…if it fails, grin and bear it.”
The following is my 40-year, never-fail recipe for a perfectly cooked and pleasing to everyone’s taste, Prime Rib Roast.
Maybe you will join me next year.
3 Bone Prime Rib Roast
Serves 8
Ask butcher to debone and tie the roast.
Push 6-10 whole cloves of garlic between bones and meat of Ribs and make small cuts into fat of roast and push in additional garlic cloves.
Do not add garlic to outside of roast as it will burn during cooking and become bitter during roasting.
12 Hours prior to roasting, in a bowl add:
4 Tbsp. Italian Season
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Tbsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. ground pepper
Mix and rub all over the roast.
Wrap in saran wrap and rest overnight in refrigerator.
Bring roast to room temperature (6 hours).
Preheat oven to 500 deg. Yes, 500 deg.
Place roast on rack in pan.
Roast 25 minutes.
Turn down oven to 325deg.
Roast until Thermometer reaches 120 deg. for rare.
Remove from oven and tent with aluminum foil.
Temperature of roast will grow to 125deg after 1/2 hour.
Rest roast tented for 1/2 hour before slicing.
For Au Jus:
In pan juices add 2 Tbsp. flour and stir for 1 minute.
Add 1-2 cups of hot water. Cook until lightly thickened.
Colly Gruczelak, a Ben Lomond resident, loves people and loves to cook. Contact her at [email protected].
