As a person who enjoys cooking, I have been spending alot of my spare time in my kitchen during COVID-19. During the first month I was so keen and enthusiastic to have this time to test a bunch of recipes that I’ve been wanting to do. The first month was fun, but shortly after that it started to feel like a chore and I started to get bored of the simple meals I was making.
For some reason I was craving a fancy steak dinner! Although the thought of ordering a steak dinner for delivery did cross my mind, I figured if I were to do that I might as well cook it myself. But I did want something fancy that would satisfy the craving I’d been having for red meat. So I decided to make prime rib! Can you make a prime rib roast for one person? Why not?! I have done it (on occasion). I buy a small roast (1 rib which is about 2-3 pounds), cook it off and have a nice prime rib dinner the first night and then either have leftovers (or make roast beef sandwiches) the next day.
The closed-oven door prime rib recipe is my preferred recipe. You crank the oven up to 500°F and roast the prime rib for 5 minutes per pound (e.g. you would cook a 3 pound prime rib roast for 15 minutes, a 4 pound prime rib roast for 20 minutes, a 5 pound prime rib roast for 25 minutes, etc) then turn off the oven and let the roast stay in the oven for 2 hours to be cooked by the residual heat.
I love using this method when there are bunch of things I am trying to get done during the day. It requires some attention at the beginning, but after the initial roasting period I can turn off the oven, set the timer and carry on with all the other tasks that need to get done. I *could* even step outside to run some errands or pick up some things since the oven is no longer turned on.
I’ve heard that it works best for roasts between 4 to 8 pounds. My roast was 2.5 pounds and it was more medium than medium rare but still tasty.
If you plan on roasting vegetables, I would suggest that you do it separately to ensure they are cooked completely or let them get a head start depending on the size of your roast.
Closed oven door prime rib
Ingredients:
- prime rib roast
- garlic, minced
- fresh herbs (thyme or rosemary)
- vegetable oil
- salt and pepper
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 500°F.
- Mix together the oil, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper in a bowl until evenly combined.
- Rub the herb oil all over the roast, then place in a roasting tray with a rack.
- Bake for 5 minutes per pound of meat.
- Turn off the heat and let the roast sit in the oven for 2 hours. Do not open the oven door or else the residual heat will escape!
- Once the 2 hours are up, remove the roast from the pan.
- Carve, and serve right away.
