Is your roast in a rut? Feel like your holiday dinner is stuck on a loop?
Everyone loves a good holiday roast but, if you’ve been making great grandma’s recipe as long as you can remember and sense some parallels between your holiday table and the movie Mickey’s 12 Days of Christmas, it may be time for a change.
We asked three Cobb chefs for their take on the standard holiday roast, and they’ve delivered some truly inspired culinary variations on this definitive Christmas dinner dish:
Café 33
Café 33 owner and executive chef Shane Clements loves to challenge himself to step outside the box and please the varied palates of his customer base– both in the dining room and in the restaurant’s thriving catering business. This Wasabi Crusted Prime Rib recipe, gifted to him by a friend and tweaked to put his own unique spin on it, is anything but traditional, yet simply divine.
At Café 33, where they recently received their liquor license and began beverage service, the team makes everything from scratch to order and is looking ahead to the New Year when they’ll begin dinner service Thursday through Sunday. Look for this tasty prime rib as their breakfast and lunch service expands in 2017.
You’ll love this exciting (and slightly spicy) twist on the classic holiday roast!
Wasabi Crusted Prime Rib Roast
INGREDIENTS:
4-5 pound boneless prime rib
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons wasabi powder
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
RECIPE
Pull prime rib from fridge and let come to room temperature (4 hours). Rub down entire rib with softened butter.
Combine all dry ingredients into bowl. Thoroughly mix all together, and evenly coat entire prime rib until all is used.
Turn oven to 500 degrees. Place rib on a roasting rack to collect the drippings for an au jus.
Once oven has preheated to 500 degrees, place rib into oven for 5 minutes per pound (for this rib 25 minutes).
Once 25 minutes has passed, turn off the oven and let cook for 2 hours for a medium-rare rib. IMPORTANT NOTE: Do NOT open the oven until the two hours is up!
If you’d like to use a meat thermometer to check temperature, 145 degrees is rare, 160 degrees is medium and 170 degrees is well done.
For the perfect accompaniment, why not serve Cafe 33’s signature Autumn Bourbon Sour!cafe10 Combine 2 ounces of 4 Roses bourbon, 1 ounce of ginger rosemary syrup (add ginger to traditional simple syrup) and a half ounce of lemon juice in a shaker over ice. Shake for 15 seconds, and strain into an Old Fashioned glass over 1 large ice cube. Garnish with a lemon slice, rosemary sprig and pickled ginger sliver.
Café 33
2520 E. Piedmont Road, Suite 2016, Marietta
(770) 977-6915
Catfish HOX
Farm-to-table restaurant Catfish HOX has been open only two months but already is taking East Cobb by storm with its “fresh Southern chow.” Based on owner and chef Phil Creasor’s Christmas Trio Treat recipes, this should come as no surprise. Whoever said a holiday roast has to be prime rib, standing rib roast or beef tenderloin clearly didn’t have Creasor’s imagination.
A retired marine who has worked in restaurants since he was 14 years old, Creasor loves serving and views his new restaurant as the culmination of his life’s passion. He whipped up a smoky fork-tender beef brisket, crispy-skinned whole chicken and cold smoked catfish filet as his homage to the quintessential holiday roast.
Break out the smoker, preheat the oven and prepare to break away from the traditional holiday roast!
Christmas Trio Treat
INGREDIENTS
Whole slab of brisket
Whole chicken
Catfish filets
Kosher salt
Cracked black pepper
Garlic powder
Spicy mustard
Sweet paprika
Chile powder
Onion powder
Cayenne pepper
Fresh garlic
Thyme
Sage
Extra virgin olive oil
RECIPES:
BRISKET >> Season whole slab of brisket with kosher salt, cracked black pepper and garlic powder, and rub spicy mustard all over the brisket.
Mix a rub of sweet paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.
To smoke the brisket, you can use any type of wood and smoker, but Creasor uses oak wood and a Big Green Egg. Start the smoker at 400 degrees for 30 minutes before lowering the smoker to slow & low around 200-225 degrees depending on the size of the brisket. Smoke for 13 hours, and enjoy.
CHICKEN (can substitute quail) >> Rub the whole chicken with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Mix minced fresh garlic, thyme and sage, and rub the whole chicken with this mixture to obtain an herb crust. Roast in oven at 425 degrees for 30 minutes.
Toward the end of the roasting time, heat fryer or skillet oil to 375 degrees.
After roasting, place chicken in oil for 7 to 10 minutes. Check temperature by sticking steel metal fork between thigh for 10 seconds. Test temperature by placing fork on forearm (carefully). If it’s hot, your bird is ready. If still cold, fry to 165 degrees internal temperature.
CATFISH >> Place your 5 ounce catfish filet(s) on foil and coat with olive oil, sliced garlic, salt and pepper. Cool smoke at 200 degrees for an hour.
For a mouthwatering side dish, whip up Creasor’s Roasted Butter Squash recipe. Chop the squash in half and rub the inside with olive oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt, nutmeg and light brown sugar. Roast for 30 minutes at 450 degrees then lower to 350 degrees for 30 minutes. For extra sweetness, hit it with some honey.
Catfish HOX
2595 Sandy Plains Road, Suite 101, Marietta
(770) 726-9925
The Freakin Incan
At Northeast Cobb’s The Freakin Incan, you’ll get deliciously acquainted with one of the world’s most highly acclaimed cuisines. Peru has become something of a gastronomic powerhouse in recent years thanks to its uniquely abundant natural resources and highly diverse culture.
The restaurant’s Peruvian-American chef-owner, Mikiel Arnold, moved to Cobb when he was a boy but he’s been gracing locals with mouthwatering Peruvian fare off Highway 92 for the last two years. A Le Cordon Bleu graduate, Arnold spent three months in Lima interning with internationally-renowned chef Gastón Acurio and put an Andean spin on his roast recipe.
“This is a traditional Peruvian dish around the holidays,” he said. “Christmas is usually celebrated at midnight with families gathering around a big dinner.”
This recipe is so good, no one will blame you for scheduling your Christmas feast at midnight in keeping with the Peruvian tradition!
Peruvian Pork Shoulder
INGREDIENTS
1 picnic shoulder
2 ounces ahi panca paste
2 ounces honey
2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
Juice from 6 oranges
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
RECIPE
Mix all ingredients together, and marinade the shoulder overnight.
Bake at 375 degrees for 3 to 4 hours until pork reaches 145 degrees internal temperature.
The Freakin Incan
4905 Alabama Road, NE,
Suite 340, Roswell
(770) 592-4420
*Originally published in the December 2016 issue of Cobb Life magazine.