Old Friends

This morning we had breakfast with old friends Mike and Ann Loehrer and Craig and Pat Burroughs.  Mike and I have been friends since kindergarten at Bryant School in Boone, Iowa and Craig and I met at Iowa State more than fifty years ago.  Mike met Craig through me way back then and we have been friends ever since.  We were in each other's weddings, so the girls joined the group too and the six of us have all been friends for almost fifty years. It is always fun to get together and tell old stories as well as some new ones.  Today, the new one was that Craig sent Mike an email telling them to meet us at the Big Biscuit, a local breakfast spot.  Mike read it quickly and thought the note said they were to meet Jan and the Big Biscuit, assuming that was a new nickname for me. It was funnier in the telling than in the writing.  You had to be there.  At any rate, Mike has now decided that my new nickname is The Big Biscuit and he even bought me a tee shirt at the restaurant. The Big Biscuit is proudly printed  across the chest.  

Mike and Ann were passing through town on their way to Arizona for a few weeks.  Ann's first question to me was, "When is Grandpa going to cook again ?"  I had to admit that I had gotten busy lately or maybe a little lazy and had been ignoring the blog, so here it goes again.  I will try to do better in the new year.  

Here is a fun way to cook a standing rib roast that is pretty fool proof and seems to come out perfect every time.  

Ingredients:

1- Standing Rib Roast - any size
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Salt and pepper roast and place in a roasting pan without a lid.  At 3:00 PM put the roast in the oven and cook for one hour.  Turn the oven off.  Do not open the oven door !!  Leave the roast in the oven with the heat off.  45 minutes before you want to serve the roast turn the oven back on to 300 degrees.  At the end of the 45 minutes the roast will be a perfect juicy medium rare.  If you are at high altitude you will need to add 25 degrees to each oven temp.  

Here is a creamy horseradish sauce to serve with your perfectly cooked roast.

Ingredients:

1 Cup heavy whipping cream
3 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 tsps salt
1/4 tsps paprika
Dash of pepper
4 TBSP grated horseradish

Preparation:

Beat whipping cream until stiff.  Add slowly, while beating constantly,  the lemon juice, salt, paprika, pepper and the grated horseradish.  Refrigerate until serving time.  

Serve the roast with your favorite potatoes and vegetable and a big hearty Cabernet Sauvignon.