Rib Roast With Roasted-garlic Thyme Sauce

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 8 lbs trimmed prime beef rib roast (sometimes called standing rib roast, 3 or 4 ribs)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 heads garlic
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/4 cup minced shallot
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups dry red wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups veal demi-glace or 3 cups beef, demiglace or 4 cups beef broth
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour if using beef broth

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 475°f.
• 2 put roast, ribs side down, in center of a 13- by 9-inch flameproof roasting pan and rub all over with 1/2 tablespoon oil.
• 3 cut about 1/2 inch from tops of garlic heads to expose cloves and discard tops.
• 4 rub beef all over with cut sides of garlic and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons thyme, pressing to adhere.
• 5 season beef generously with salt and pepper.
• 6 put garlic heads on a double layer of foil and drizzle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil.
• 7 wrap garlic tightly in foil.
• 8 roast beef in middle of oven 30 minutes.
• 9 remove beef from oven and with a bulb baster skim all but about 1/2 cup fat from pan.
• 10 baste beef with fat remaining in pan.
• 11 reduce temperature to 375°f.
• 12 add garlic to oven.
• 13 roast beef, with garlic, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours more, or until a meat thermometer inserted into center of meat registers 115°f
• 14 transfer garlic in foil to a rack and transfer beef to a platter, reserving pan juices.
• 15 let beef stand 25 minutes. (meat will continue to cook, reaching about 130°f for medium-rare.).
• 16 while beef is standing, remove all but about 2 tablespoons fat from pan.
• 17 add shallot to pan and on top of stove cook over moderate heat, stirring, 2 minutes.
• 18 unwrap garlic.
• 19 protecting your hand with a doubled paper towel, squeeze roasted garlic into shallot mixture and discard skins.
• 20 add vinegar, wine, bay leaf, and remaining tablespoon thyme and boil mixture, scraping up brown bits and mashing garlic with a wooden spatula against bottom of pan, until reduced to about 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes.
• 21 if using demiglace, stir into garlic mixture and boil sauce until reduced to about 2 cups, about 5 minutes.
• 22 whisk in butter.
• 23 if using beef broth, in a small bowl mash together butter and flour to make a beurre manié.
• 24 stir beef broth into garlic mixture and boil sauce until reduced to about 2 cups.
• 25 whisk beurre manié into broth mixture and cook over moderate heat, whisking, until sauce is smooth and slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.
• 26 pour sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on solids.
• 27 season sauce with salt and pepper.
• 28 cut rib roast into slices and serve with sauce.