The simpelest it put it in a roaster and put it in the oven and cook it...
I'm looking for the roast....and the $$ to buy a full rolled rib!
The thing to remember is don't over cook it.
Some advocate high heat, others slow....some covered some not covered. But if your meat is good and your choice of the cut you use suitable for the method you use....it's hard to go wrong with a "hunk 'o beef" simply cooked with just salt and pepper.

I use this one and comes out great..

ALWAYS PERFECT ROAST BEEF
Printed from COOKS.COM

Allow roast to come to room temperature. Rub outside with garlic clove and salt and pepper to taste. Place roast (uncovered) in cold oven. Set oven at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes and turn oven off leaving meat inside. Do not open oven door during or after roasting. As serving time approaches, set oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Carve and serve. The meat will be brown outside and pink inside.

For a small roast (3 people or less) heating temperatures are 300 degrees and 350 degrees.

Thanks! Yes the beef will be expensive which is why I need to make sure I don't ruin it ~shudder~

carmie - do you let the roast 'rest' before carving?

Buy your standing rib roast-it's a little more $$ to get it on the bone BUt-so much more flavor! I preheat my oven to 400. I season the roast with alot of salt & pepper plus 1 packet of Lipton Onion soup mix. Rub it into the meat well.
In a frying pan..I add some oil and sear all sides on a high heat...no more than a total of 2-3 min. This will keep the juices sealed inside the roast. Remove roast & place in your roasting pan. (I usually peel 4-5 whole carrots & set the roast on them in the pan).
Roast for 45 min at 400 degrees, then I add about an inch of water and drop the temp to 335 and continue to roast until it reaches medium rare. You really need to use a dependable meat thermometer! Remove from oven-place roast on a cookie sheet & cover w/foil. Let rest for 20-30 min.

Meanwhile..add water or beef stock to your pan drippings & scrape the pan of all of the stuck on goodies. The onion mix flavors the au jus and makes it a nice rich brown color. Allow about 4-5 oz of au jus per serving...(2 cups water =4 servings in a dipping cup.) If you do get the meat w/the bones? Simply run your knife along the bottom to seperate them from the meat. Slice your meat in 1" slices or so, place on serving platter & drizzle au jus over the top.

I also whip sour cream & 2 oz of cream cheese together & add 2 big TBS of zippy horseradish for a side condiment..sooo good!

Here's a high heat method of cooking your roast that you may find to be helpful.

Lucy

Here is a link that might be useful: High Heat Roasting

angelaid..Yes,I let it rest... Time varies on the size of the roast..

This is what I do with my standing rib roast.
Score the fat layer in criss cross pattern.
Rub it all over with Everglades Seasoning. both on the top, sides, and even on the bone side.
Place rack in pan. Put roast on rack. Add enough water to cover bottom of rack.

Bake at 325 degrees until desired doneness. The seasoning crusts the meat. Yum! The drippings makes wonderful gravy and the leftovers make great sandwiches if there is any left.

annova, much depends on what cut of roast you buy, and how big it is. My best advice is to spend a little more to buy your roast from a butcher rather than the supermarket and ask him the best way to cook it. A good butcher generally loves giving cooking tips. Since Christmas week is the busiest in the year for a butcher shop, go in ahead of time to both order your roast and chat up the butcher regarding cooking it.

A trick of mine, both to save scrubbing roasting pans and to ensure plenty of unburnt drippings for gravy (or broth if you're serving it au jus) is to roast any meat on a rack over a baking pan with a half inch of water in it. The drippings fall into the water instead of a hot pan, creating a lovely broth rather than burnt bits and smoke!

Thanks everyone! This is great information and I sure need all the advice I can get (I've been getting cold feet, wondering if hmmm, maybe I could just grill a pork tenderloin...). I really do want to serve roast beef as it's such an old fashioned Christmas dinner thing to do, brings back wonderful memories of my childhood and I just love it with whipped potatoes and green beans. I also appreciate the tips about how to create a good broth which I presume is the au jus? Thank you all :) Ann/NoVA

Thought of something else...Have a good quality beef base on hand (NOT bouillon) to intensify the flavor or just to stretch the broth a bit so there will be plenty.

Jeepers, if you can grill a pork tenderloin without drying it up, you shouldn't have any trouble with roast beef, it's much more forgiving than pork.

annova -
I just fixed a standing rib roast yesterday -ummm so good. a thought though - I would buy it just a couple days before you want to cook it. Takes forever for a frozen one to thaw out, especially a big one. You would have enough drippings to make great gravy.

Ann there are just a few things you need to do to ensure a wonderful roast:

Buy the best quality roast you can, we like a rib roast, bone in.

Make sure the roast is close to room temperature and your oven is preheated;

Place in a pan that it fits in snuggly.

Place bone side down.

Use an instant read thermometer to check temperature. The most common way of ruining a roast is to over cook it. If you don;t have one buy on, they are invaluable. I like 135 for medium rare, 145 for medium.

Let the roast rest at least 15 minutes before carving. This will redistribute the juices so you don't have them all run out with the first slice. Very important step.

As for oven temperature, I do 450 for 30 minutes and then 325 until the roast reaches correct temperature.

Good luck!

PS: The easiest way to carve a bone in rib roast is to place it on it's side with ribs running perpendicular to the table. Run a good knife right along the bones between the meat and the bones. The ribs will come away in one piece and you will have a nice hunk of beef to carve easily.

I then slice between each bone and serve them as well....they fight over the bones in my house!

More good advice - I have no excuses now! Thanks so much :)