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Roast fore-rib of beef with fresh horseradish sauce ...... without needing to invite the Flintstones.

It's not often you have the opportunity (or the need) to do a standing rib roast. Its beautiful but it's big and it's bloody expensive.That's a shame

Well help is at hand, cooking one rib like this means that you can still get that great taste but in a smaller package.

It was plenty for the three of us and was really, really, really delicious. 

Ingredients 

1 x 1+kg fore rib of beef (with 1 bone) 
1 bulb of garlic, broken into cloves 
a few sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked 
sea salt 
freshly ground black pepper 
olive oil 
a knob of butter 

Method 

Preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F/ gas 9. Take the beef out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you want to cook it and allow it to come up to room temperature. 

Place a large sturdy roasting tray in the oven to heat up. 

In a pestle and mortar smash 3 garlic cloves and most of the the rosemary leaves with a pinch of sea salt and a lug of olive oil, then massage all over the beef. 

Quickly bash the remaining un-peeled garlic cloves and add to the hot roasting tray with the beef. 

Pop straight in the oven and roast for around 50 minutes, basting occasionally with the juices from the tray. 

When the time's up, reduce the temperature to 190°C/375°F/gas 5 for around 10 minutes, or until the beef is beautifully golden brown on the outside and pink in the middle – leave in for longer if you prefer your beef well done (If you must!)

The best way of telling if your beef is done is to use a meat thermometer ...  for medium rare I aim to take it out when the temperature in the middle of the joint is around 55 degrees (it will rise a bit as it rests)

Carefully transfer it to a platter, dot the knob of butter on top, then use a rosemary sprig to brush all over the meat. Cover with a double layer of tin foil and a tea towel and leave to rest. 

Carve the whole piece of meat off of the bone and then slice across into slices of a generous thickness. we served it with gravy made from the pan juices a bit of stock and a glass of red wine, some green beans and lovely roasties. 

Rather unusually Waitrose had some fresh horseradish root so I also made some fresh horseradish sauce: I grated around a handful of the fresh root and mixed it with Creme fraiche, lemon juice, salt and pepper .... next time I might add a little mustard too.

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