Christmas Roasted Crown of Beef

Christmas this year was different in that we were actually home for the big day. My lovely cousin is getting married New Year's Eve eve in South Carolina and my family decided to spend the holiday at our respective homes and meet up at the wedding. This left me with the unusual dilemma of making a holiday worthy meal in our own home. Therefore, I wanted something memorable, different and, most of all, easy! Enter, crown roast of beef.


I was fortunate to get a hot tip on a terrific local market that sells grass fed locally sourced meats at a terrific price, and, as it turns out, Hampton's Market is a little known treasure in Greenwood. I placed my order seven days before Christmas eve and ordered only two ribs since we're a small family of three - with one of us being a picky toddler - figuring that two ribs would be sufficient for a small family dinner and allow for some day after leftovers. As it turns out, I was wrong, very, very wrong. Those two ribs weighed in at five and a half pounds and was something more more like four servings. That said, I prefer to cook double and freeze half for busy weeknight meals. I think that we'll enjoy the leftovers on a cold winter weeknight sometime soon with some fresh roasted veggies - yum!


It turns out that this meal was super easy to make, gluten and dairy free and very, very tasty. It will be first on my list the next time I need a special meal. Try the recipe below and let me know if you agree!


Special Occasion Rib Roast

• 5.5 lb Crown Rib Roast (approximately 2 ribs), tied
• 1 large handful of fresh parsley, leaves stripped from the stalk, minced very fine
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 cup EVOO 
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper

Remove rib roast from the fridge 15 minutes prior to roasting. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Arrange oven racks to the lowest position.

Place the large stems you remove from the parsley in the bottom of a small metal "turkey" roaster (inexpensive, can be purchased at your local discount store). Wipe roast with paper towels and place it in the roaster on top of the parsley stems. 

In a small bowl, mix the parsley, garlic, salt, pepper and EVOO with a spoon until well combined. Reserve a few tablespoons of the mixture if you plan to roast root veggies to serve along side of your roast. If not, reserve part of the mixture for another use. 

Using clean hands, spoon half of the parsley/garlic mixture over the roast and rub over the roast to distribute. Continue process until all of the mixture has been used and roast is well seasoned. 

Place the lid on the roaster and place roaster in the middle of the oven. Roast for 2 hours on 300. Raise the oven temperature to 425, flip the roast over to ensure even roasting and cook for another 15 minutes with the lid off. 

When time is up, remove the roast from the oven and "tent" it to rest by placing the lid on an angle to allow steam to escape of keep roast warm for at least 20 minutes. Carve and serve with your favorite condiment.