Cristi Cooks the Book: Blowtorch Prime Rib Roast, Potato Pave, and Braised Artichokes

Tonight we cooked the blowtorch prime rib roast with horseradish cream along with the potato pave and braised artichokes for my mother-in-law's birthday. The roast recipe calls for a 2-bone center cut rib roast. This one was fun to prep as you actually sear the meat with a blowtorch before roasting in the oven. This starts the fat rendering process and caramelizes the surface before roasting. I then roasted in the oven until medium rare.

I also made the potato pave dish. I sliced the potatoes into thin rounds, dunked them in whipping cream, and layered in a baking dish to bake in the oven. The finished dish looked like scalloped potatoes. I then refrigerated the dish for a day, inverted the dish, and cut into squares which were browned in oil with garlic and thyme. The layers of the potatoes become crisp and it's almost like a potato pancake.

The braised artichokes...where to begin. Trimming an artichoke is not easy. You have to pull the leaves (which are prickly), trim the stem and the dark green leaves, and then try to get the fuzzy choke out. It is a major pain. Not to mention an artichoke turns brown quickly so trying to do all of this before ruining the artichoke is a challenge. After finally getting six artichokes trimmed, well five...one was butchered so bad it went in the trash, I sauteed chopped carrots, fennel, and onions in a little butter and steamed the artichokes on the bed of vegetables.

I then added the braising liquid which consisted of white wine, stock, olive oil, and water and cooked until the artichokes were finished.

To serve with the beef, I made the horseradish cream which is basically whipping cream whipped with horseradish. The finished beef sat in the oven and was slightly more done than medium rare which I would have preferred but nonetheless, the flavors were spot on. The fat rendering process seemed to make the beef really juicy. The potato pave was my favorite. Even though I had to start a few days ahead of time to get it ready, the steps were fairly simple and it was an excellent potato dish. The artichokes were also really good but I don't know if they were worth all of the work! Here are the finished dishes...

Blowtorch Prime Rib Roast...