We celebrated the DadZ birthday early this evening, and since I went to Thanksgiving with Charlie’s family, it was like a mini-Thanksgiving. I ended up making a standing rib roast from Martha Stewart’s Cooking School cookbook.
Prime Rib Roast
from Martha Stewart’s Cooking School
For Rub
15 dried bay leaves, crumbled
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh sage leaves, plus several whole leaves for garnish
1/2 cup extra–virgin olive oil
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup finely grated orange zest (from 2 to 3 oranges)
For Roast
1 three-rib prime rib of beef (about 7 pounds), trimmed and frenched
Prepare Meat
Stir together crumbled bay leaves, sage, the oil, 1½ teaspoons salt, and the orange zest in a small bowl. Season with pepper. Rub herb mixture all over the beef, coating evenly. Refrigerate overnight, covered. About 2 hours before you plan to cook the beef, remove it from the refrigerator. Place beef, fat side up, in a roasting pan and allow it to come to room temperature. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 450-degrees F.
Roast
Cook beef for 30 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350-degrees F and continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer inserted into meat (away from bone) registers 115-degrees F to 120-degrees F (for rare), about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes longer. Let rest 20 minutes.
Carve and Serve
Slice meat away from ribs, cutting along the bones. Then, slice meat crosswise to desired thickness. Serve, garnished with whole sage leaves.
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You could really use any blend of beef-appropriate spices (anything really, except for maybe, pumpkin pie spice, but hey — whatever floats your boat, right?) for the rub. The other thing you can do is mix up your spices in with rendered beef lard and rub it all over the roast. The crust it creates and the flavor it imbues is amazing. That also makes for very good Yorkshire pudding when you use extra lard.
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DadZ’s haul included a new mechanical keyboard, a Bennington flag for his barn, and a bellows for the fire pit.
My mom ordered a Dio torta from the Transylvania Bakery. It’s not in the safest neighborhood, but it’s a real, authentic Hungarian bakery. The walnut cake and dobos torta are amazing.
DadZ particularly loves going there because he and the owner get to shoot the shit in Hungarian, which DadZ rarely gets to do anymore. So, if you happen to be looking for an amazing cake and live around Cleveland (and have a concealed carry license) I highly recommend the Transylvania Bakery.
The Blog of JulZ 
I am sooo impressed you tackled a rib roast after saying you weren’t into cooking meat! Holy cow!
It’s so funny… my dad goes to crazy neighborhoods to speak to old Yugoslavian men at specialty shops too!
Cooking a roast wasn’t too bad: my guidepost was temperature, and I didn’t have to mess around with it too much. Still terrified of cooking meat on a grill or stovetop, though! And of roasting turkey: that seems hard, too…
It’s all temp really. You should get a little meat thermometer. You can check your steaks and chops easy peasy!