I think I decided to blame it on the Pandemic, but until recently I haven’t been posting many recipes. I guess I got blocked by the idea that no one cared what I had to say, or what led me to make a certain dish, because honestly, who cares? Truth is, I just love to cook, and eat. Inspiration strikes me everywhere, TV, Social Media, Podcasts, and Cookbooks I read and reread. I just love the experience of cooking. Listening to music or a podcast accompanied by a glass of red wine, or a cocktail courtesy of Birdbelly Husband. It’s a slow experiment and sometimes a challenge to see if I can have a “restaurant worthy” meal in my own home, in my pjs and its not weird if our dog gets on the table to join us.
The last two years Birdbelly Husband and I have been taking our NYE dinner up a notch. We have made something super fancy at home where if we fall asleep before midnight its ok, and we can have many drinks safely. Ok, he would not allow us to fall asleep, but I celebrate when the “Ball” drops on the east coast, just in case.
This post isn’t a recipe, just wanted to show you what we ate. 🙂 Enjoy!
We bought a whole rib roast a while ago, and cut ourselves one center cut Prime Rib, and then a lot of thick steaks! Sunday (12/27) we seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Montreal Steak Seasoning, and then softened butter with dried parsley. This was left uncovered in the fridge until it went in the oven on NYE. That’s why you see that glorious deep deep red color to the bottom right of the image. AGED BEEF- what a gift!
While the Prime Rib was roasting in the oven (at 325), we were listening to music, singing, drinking, dancing and slowly prepping. I sat at our island and sliced mushrooms & onions for the Aus Jus, and Brussel Sprouts for health (they were at one time green so I call that health). This is what I was saying earlier. I love the slow experience of cooking, its an event! Not the rush to feed type of cooking.
See they were bright green, until I made them edible! Sorry, not my fave veggie, so these bad boys were doctored up good! Air Fried, tossed in olive oil, salt, & pepper and then once they came out I tossed in balsamic vinegar, honey, bacon, and dried cranberries! YUM YUM YUM. Not pictured until later, I also cooked baked potatoes in my air fryer for the first time, and they were perfect! Im using the air fryer more and more these days. It was slow at first, but I’m loving it as a “second oven.” Since our actual oven was set low for the Prime Rib, the air fryer was the perfect solution to roast the veggies and potatoes at their own temp.
Yessssssss, we took the roast out of the oven at 117 degrees internal temp. Then the juices at the bottom of the pan (beef fat and butter) was poured over the roast. The temp was monitored the whole cook without opening the oven using our ThermoWorks thermometer. I (we) can’t stress enough how important a good instant read thermometer is. Also, test your oven temp! Just because you set the oven to a temp, doesn’t mean that’s what its heating to, even new/expensive ones! Place a thermometer in your oven and test it! You can calibrate them or just the knowledge alone is so helpful in cooking!
All parts of a Prime Rib are my favorite, from the medium rare center to the seasoned fat that LITERALLY melts in your mouth around the outside. Its just a perfect cut, honestly.
Finally, the finished plate! For the Aus Jus I cooked the mushrooms and onions in butter with a little salt and pepper, and a shake or two of Worcestershire and then I added two packets of McCormick Brown Gravy using more water than it calls for to get the thinner consistency. I probably would have used Aus Jus mix if the store had it available that day, but now I think this was better, no regrets.
The potatoes were in the air fryer about 40 min at 400 degrees, half way through I seasoned the skins with olive oil and salt and pepper. Then once we cut them open topped with salt/pepper, butter, sour cream, bacon bits, and green onions.
The salad was kept simple, and dressed with my famous Blue Cheese Dressing I swear, making your own salad dressing will change your life.
And that’s it! I barely made a dent in my plate, but the leftovers today were just as heavenly. I hope you enjoyed seeing what we ate for New Year’s Eve, and are in some way inspired to cook your own big fancy meal, pjs required.
– birdbelly
