Christmas Dinner! Yum!

So for Christmas dinner this year, I took a page from my future mother-in-law's cookbook (mantias.blogspot.com) and put it to the test for our family get-together.  Rib roast (aka - prime rib) is quite an easy dish to prepare.  It definitely requires patience and knowledge of meat temps.  You can do this roast two ways, which I will put in here.  Now I will say this, I am copying and pasting the recipe for you because Chef Alyce is great at writing them!  For the seasoning recipe, I totally suggest making a batch to keep in the pantry.  This "house seasoning" would go well on any red meat, potatoes, and on steamed veggies.  I would even add it to home-made pasta dishes for extra flavor.

I cooked the rib roast the first way listed.  It turned out beautifully!  However, we did have to cook it longer and at a higher temperature after the last 30-45 minute cooking cycle to get it to temperature.  I would highly suggest getting an oven probe to temp the meat out so you know it will be perfect!

Prime Rib Roast (Alyce Mantia Price)

Ingredients

• 1 (5-pound) standing rib roast
• 1 tablespoon House Seasoning, recipe follows

Directions

Allow roast to stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F. Rub roast with House Seasoning; place roast on a rack in the pan with the rib side down and the fatty side up. Roast for 1 hour. Turn off oven. Leave roast in oven but do not open oven door for 3 hours. About 30 to 40 minutes before serving time, turn oven to 375 degrees F and reheat the roast. Important: Do not remove roast or re-open the oven door from time roast is put in until ready to serve.

House Seasoning:

• 1 cup salt
• 1/4 cup black pepper
• 1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

This method would still take about four hours:

If a crisp crust is desired, sear the roast in a preheated 450°F oven for 20-25 minutes, then reduce the heat. The most accurate way to judge if the roast is done is to use an instant read thermometer. If not using a thermometer, allow approximately 15 minutes per pound for rare, 18-20 for medium, or 25 minutes for a well done roast.

After the roast is finished, I suggest letting it stand for at least 20 minutes.  If you cut right into it, it will "bleed out" and lose all of those wonderful juices and flavors.  Another tip would be to make sure your butcher cuts behind the bones and ties them back up with your roast.  This adds extra flavor to the dish, and it also makes it easier for you when you are carving the roast.  Happy eating!

Sharky's Review: Memphis, TN

When my fiancé, Lisa, and I go to Memphis to see the family, we always have at least one restaurant we visit that I have never been to.  It’s always exciting for me to go, because I know that I will have great food cooked by either Alyce, one of Alyce’s friends, or at an amazing restaurant.  This trip, we decided to experience the Gulf food Memphis has to offer (Yes, I did say Gulf food).  As we were driving down Poplar, we saw Sharky’s, a Cajun Gulf Grill.  The atmosphere was nice, making you feel like you are in a crab shack at the beach.  Yet it still had the romantic feel to make it special for a date night.

So we started off with oysters on the half shell.  We both love oysters, and actually had them the night before at Mister B’s (another Cajun-inspired restaurant).  The oysters here were somewhat mixed in size, but tasted absolutely amazing.  And the most exciting part is that a dozen only sold for $13.75 (at Mister B’s they sold for $20).  They were especially juicy and had a wonderful flavor.  Great start to our meal!

As we looked over the menu, we noticed they had an excellent deal for a four-course meal with a price of $39.95.  So we took them up on it.  The first course was a cup of clam chowder.  The flavor was great at first, but the more I ate it, the more pepper I tasted until I felt like I was licking a pepper grinder.  It was also a little floury.  I would not suggest this soup here.  Lisa substituted her chowder for the blue crab bisque, which was also very floury.  My suggestion would be to just go straight for the gumbo.

Our next dish was a typical house salad.  We both chose bleu cheese as our dressing.  This dressing was very runny, no texture, but had great taste.  The salad was made up of 2 quartered Roma tomatoes, 3 red onion rings, 2 cucumber slices, and iceberg lettuce.  It was a pretty nice intro into the meal, and did not fill us up.

Our next course was the main course, which we both chose the steamed platter.  And boy was it a great choice.  There was so much food on the plate that our server had to bring another plate to make room for all the food!  The dish consisted of snow crab legs, jumbo shrimp, mussels, clams, potatoes, andouille sausage, and corn-on-the-cob.  All was seasoned with Old Bay, which is obviously a great choice on any Cajun dish.  Everything was exceptionally juicy, flavorful, and of great quality.  The snow crab legs were of nice size, and cracked easily without having to use the crackers provided.  The mussels and clams were fully open, juicy, and of bold flavor.  The only complaint that I have about this course is miniscule, which is the crab butter was not blended correctly and broke hours before. 

And finally, the dessert course: Key Lime Pie.  Now, I will say that if you have been to Key West, you will never like anyone else’s Key Lime Pie.  This pie had great texture, but the tartness was very dull.  I could also tell the chef went crazy when zesting the lime, because the bitter part of the lime was definitely prevalent in the overall taste of the dessert. 

In summary, the overall meal was fantastic.  I haven’t had a meal like that since going to a beach-type atmosphere in quite some time.  The service was so-so, however the server did have many tables in her section.  I would highly suggest anyone to try this restaurant, but explore the menu rather than getting the fixed menu.  This is a great eatery for a date night, casual dinner, or simply out with friends.