Ah yes, nothing like planning a dinner party for 8 when you really wish you were curled up on the couch in a blanket with some hot tea and Jack Daniels watching bad TV. Instead we were doing fun things like chopping piles of garlic and grating fresh horse radish. To clarify, Jeff and I were unlikely advancees in the FoodBuzz Project Food Blog Cage Match Championships. Which was really cool and yet really disturbing. Because I didn’t realize how many of you LIKED SPAM! (And were willing to admit it on a public forum like this here blog.) But YAY we made it to round 3 (partially thanks to YOU dear readers) and now get to cook for our friends. Because we hardly never ever do that more the 3 times a week… This time we were tasked to introduce them to “new tastes and exotic flavors.” Jeff and I agreed almost immediately that maybe we should just make them eat vegetables…

We entertain a lot. Truly, A L O T!!! We’ve both said it many times before – it is what makes us tick. Good food and good friends and good drink are the cornerstones of our life. This challenge was going to be right up our alley. We just wanted to make it a little different and a little special.

So Rule 1) We wouldn’t smoke or grill anything. I knew that was going to be a stretch, but we are always using the grill or the WSM whenever we have friends over. We don’t call it a cookout for nothing. This time they were going to enjoy food prepared the way you rich folk with appliances make food.

2) Different yet close to familiarity. Flavors they knew and wouldn’t shun yet taste combination’s that would test their taste buds. And they would have to say the last part of that line 5 times really fast.

and finally 3) They would drink some really good beer.

That being said – we concocted our menu and got to work:

We were pretty damn excited that for the first time in many months we would NOT be serving chicken wings or chicken thighs or chicken feet. You were looking for a recipe link on that last one weren’t you? HA! No. We would be slow roasting a delicious prime rib with a beautiful horseradish and garlic crust.

Horseradish Encrusted Standing Rib Roast.

6 pound standing rib roast
1/2 cup of freshly grated horseradish
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 T of fresh rosemary
1 T of fresh thyme
2 T of smoked kosher salt
heavy pinch of freshly crushed black pepper
heavy glug of olive oil

Allow rib roast to come to room temperature.

Combine horseradish, garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper an olive oil and smash until a pesto like paste is formed.

Slather that gorgeous hunk of meat (top and sides) with the horseradish mixture till well coated. Note: The bottom of a standing rib roast is the side with the bones. It acts as a built in rack of sorts. I know you know this but my college English professor once told me to write as if who you are talking to has never seen what it is you are talking about before so I did. But just this once because seriously, how obnoxious IS THAT?

Place prime rib in a heavy bottomed pan and roast in a 250° F oven until the internal temperature reaches 115° F. (Approximately 30 minutes per pound).

Remove prime rib from oven and raise to highest temperature setting. (For us that was 500° F)

We interrupt this prime rib recipe for an appetizer…

While we cranked our oven up, we put our jalapeno cream cheese stuffed prawns wrapped in bacon, in the oven. Normally this would take 20-25 minutes at 400° F oven, but given that we have only one oven which was already in somewhat use with the prime rib, we made due.

I think they turned out SWIMMINGLY !

Bacon Wrapped Prawns, Stuffed with Jalapeno Cream Cheese and Drenched with Tupelo Honey (from all natural free range bees)

16 Prawns
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 jalapenos diced
1 serrano diced
1 T honey plus more for drenching during baking.
16 slices of bacon

Shell, de-vein and butterfly prawns.

Combine cream cheese, jalapenos, serrano and 1 T honey.

Lay a spoon full of the cream cheese mixture down the middle of each prawn.

Wrap prawn with slice of bacon.

Place on a rack in a baking pan, bacon ends down.

Bake in 400° F oven for 15 – 20 minutes, until bacon begins to crisp up.

Drench each prawn with a teaspoon of honey and bake for 5 additional minutes.

Serve immediately.

WE INTERRUPT THIS APPETIZER FOR A MENU EMERGENCY!

Where the FREAK were we going to BAKE the POTATOES? The matchstick carrots were made stove top but ugh the hasselback potatoes!

So we broke rule 1. It was a stupid rule anyway. When we took the prime rib out of the oven and slid the prawns in, the potatoes went straight on the grill, which we attempted to keep at 425° for 35 minutes.

Oh let me go back to that INSANE prime rib:

Once the oven has reached your highest temperature, place roast back in and cook for about 15 minutes or until crust is nice and… well… crusty.

Remove and let sit for 20 minutes before carving.

Jeff’s smile went from ear to ear when he sliced into that roast. And I swear our friends all gasped. Which may have been because Jeff almost took off his thumb on that first slice, but then again it may have been the pure utopia that is known as perfectly roasted beef.

The hasselback potatoes were crunchy and garlicky and the matchstick carrots complimented the roast with sweet delicateness.

(Recipes coming soon! Promise.)

But we were hardly finished. We wrapped up this culinary adventure with Crispin “The Saint” hard cider simmered pears, which were served with mascarpone, a drizzle of maple syrup caramel and crushed puff pastry. (Recipe coming soon! Promise.)

Paired with a really nice surprise from Jeff. Some Boulevard Brewery’s Quadruple Ale which I have been absolutely DYING for for some time now.

He knows the way to my heart is with some really good meat and a strong tasty ale.

…

I honestly think that the success of this night was summed up perfectly with the title of this post; “Tonight, during dinner, our friends were oddly silent…” Normally, as we stand around the grill sucking down wings and brats and burgers and beers we laugh and joke and tell stories and plan our next get together for as soon as humanly possible. But tonight, they were so engaged with what we were feeding them that the only sounds we really heard were mmmm’s and sigh’s and the occasional “oh wow.” But mostly they were silent.

That was the best compliment we could have ever received.

I hope you enjoyed living vicariously through our photos and cold medicine induced dissertation written word…. and maybe you felt like you were here with us. If so I am really sorry that I flicked that spoon full of mascarpone at you. But you deserved it.

And if you didn’t MIND the mascarpone in your hair – kindly throw a FoodBuzz Food Blog of Crazy Ass INCREDIBLE vote our way. Thanks!

However, this should be proof positive the garden is alive and well because all vegetation came right from there.  Although really I have to throw the credit to Heather since she is the one who has been watering the garden, weeding, and all that good jazz.  However, it should be noted that even though she took care of the garden my truck still needs the oil changed…..

So without further b.s. or excuses here comes the recipe…..

• 6-7 bell peppers
• 1 lb of ground beef
• 1/2 lb of ground pork
• 1 red pepper
• 1 onion
• 1-2 jalapenos
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 TB of paprika
• 1/4 cup of fresh herbs (parsley, oregano, basil, thyme)
• 1 small can of diced tomatoes drained or 6 fresh tomatoes peeled and diced
• 1 cup of cooked rice
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used pepperjack)
• panko breadcrumbs
• couple TB of butter

Steps to success:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Brown the ground beef and pork until browned. Remove and drain.
• Add in the onion, diced bell pepper, jalapeno until softened.
• Add in the paprika and garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add in the tomatoes, rice, meat, rice, herbs, and cheese. Cook until the liquid is evaporated.
• Remove the top, veins, and seeds from the bell peppers. Shove the mixture in the peppers, top with breadcrumbs and a pat of butter.
• Cover with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes. Once the peppers are softened and then throw under a high broiler for a couple minutes until the topping is browned.

Serve and enjoy!

Larb is one of my favorite dishes to get at the local Thai restaurant unfortunately they lack a pork larb.  I have debated talking to management about the lack of love for the precious pig but decided it would be cheaper to just create my own and cut out the middle man.

This dish also helped me cut down drastically on the amount of meat in my freezers and pretty soon you will see some creative posts especially when I get to pig’s heart.   Yes you read that right I managed to acquire a pig’s heart from my last whole hog purchase.  Have no freaking clue what I can do with it but hey in keeping with my old school name it could be a disaster.

This dish also pisses me off because in true Jeff fashion I had to make it after I cleared out the herb garden so I had to head to the store to buy the fresh herbs.  I was cool with that until I saw how much they are charging you for a small container of mint…grrr.  Time to install some grow lights and grow herbs indoors.  I hope this does not put me back on a DEA watch list because I can not afford to go back to jail (you will never take me alive copper).

For this recipe you need:

• 2 lbs of ground pork
• 1 onion finely diced
• 1-2 jalapenos finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic finely diced
• Thumb size piece of ginger finely diced
• Juice of 1 lime
• 3 tablespoons of fish sauce
• Heavy pinch of sugar
• 1/2 cup of fresh mint finely diced
• 1/2 cup of fresh corainder finely diced
• 1/2 cup of bay leaf finely diced
• Spoonfuls upon spoonfuls of sambal oelek
• Spoonfuls upon spoonfuls of Sriracha (p.s. Asian markets are the cheapest place to find sambal and siraracha)
• Toasted sesame oil

This is where it gets difficult so hold on:

• Brown pork, drain, set aside (you may need to add some oil to the pan if the pork is sticking)
• Lower the heat to medium, saute the onion and jalapeno until soft (about 5 minutes), add in the garlic and ginger, and saute for another 30 seconds.
• Add in the pork, lime juice, sambal, siraracha, fish sauce, herbs, sugar, and a couple dashes of sesame oil.
• Taste…are you happy?  If not add more sambal and siraraha because those two ingredients make everything taste better.

Serve and enjoy!