For every holiday, we have a food tradition that we are adamant about doing every year. Don’t ask us why, but we are very superstitious about our holiday meals. We’ve been very fortunate over the years and, although we know it has nothing to do with the meals that we’ve eaten, we just don’t want to jinx ourselves. Our Christmas tradition is to have prime rib (or standing rib roast) with Yorkshire pudding. It isn’t a complicated meal, but it is certainly delicious.  We flew home on Christmas Eve so that we could be home for Christmas and cook our traditional dinner on Christmas Day.  It was the perfect complement to being home.  You don’t need to have a holiday or a superstition to give this meal a try 😉

Ingredients

• 6 – 8 lb Prime Rib (3 or 4 ribs)
• 5 Garlic Cloves – minced
• 1/4 cup Prepared Horseradish
• 4 tbsp Fresh Rosemary – roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp Thyme
• 1/4 cup Sea Salt
• 1/8 cup Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3 Eggs
• 3/4 cup Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Pan Drippings from the Prime Rib

Instructions

Stir together the flour and salt into a bowl.  In another bowl, beat together the eggs and milk.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until fully incorporated.  Stir in 1 tablespoon of Rosemary and 1 teaspoon of thyme.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the prime rib, bone side down, into a large roasting pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  In a small bowl, combine the garlic, horseradish, 3 tablespoons of the rosemary, 1 tablespoon of the thyme, sea salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Whisk the ingredients until it forms a paste (whisking instead of stirring allows the ingredients to bind together).  Generously rub the paste over the top (the fat cap) of the prime rib.  Roast the prime rib in the oven for 2 – 2 1/2 hours (approximately 20 minutes per pound) until it reaches an internal temperature of 125 degrees.

Pull the roast from the oven and set it aside, tented, for 20 to 30 minutes to rest (cutting into the roast without letting it rest will cause the juices to run out and the prime rib to be dry).  Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees.  Pour the pan drippings into a 9 inch square baking dish.  Place the baking dish into the oven for 5 minutes to get the drippings smoking hot.  Take the baking dish out of the oven, pull the batter out of the refrigerator, and add the cold batter to the pan drippings.  Place the pudding back into the oven and cook until puffed and dry, about 15 to 20 minutes.