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This  goes to John and Elli Vicente in Texas,
who have requested this a couple of month’s ago.
Hope you guy’s find it like it was imprinted in Ellis’
memory back in Germany   🙂

Guten Appetit ! Das Leben Ist Schoen !
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Rouladen –

Ingredient’s

Beef,  round,  cut into long slices, pounded very thin
Smoked bacon,  sliced
Onions,  julienned
Dijon mustard,
Carrots,  quartered lengthwise
Kosher pickles,
Mirepoix,
Tomato, chopped
Bay leaves,
Kosher salt,
Black pepper,  freshly ground
Flour,  to dust rouladen
Stock,  preferably beef, substitute chicken, pork, vegetable
Oil,  to saute
Kitchen twine,

Method :

Season both sides of beef with salt and pepper. Spread out on work surface, then top with ingredients as shown in photos. Roll up tightly and tie with kitchen twine. Saute in oil until nicely browned on all sides, remove and reserve. Saute mirepoix until caramelized, add tomatoes. Deglaze with a good amount of red wine, add stock, bay leaves and seasoning (Easy at this point, the sauce will reduce) Return the beef to the sauce and very slowly simmer until the meat is tender but not falling apart when handling. When meat is tender, carefully remove from sauce and cut off the twine. Remove bay leaves from sauce and with a stick blender puree the vegetables until sauce is nice and smooth. Adjust thickness by adding a bit more stock, or, if too thin, reduce until the desired texture is achieved. Adjust seasoning if required. Return rouladen to the sauce and keep warm until ready to serve.

Dumplings –

Ingredient’s

Dense bread, such as sourdough or focaccia, day old, diced
Onions,  diced,
Bacon,  diced
Eggs,  whole
Milk,  whole
Chives,  finely sliced
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,
Nutmeg,

Method :

Heat milk to a simmer, drizzle over bread until damp. Render bacon until crisp, add onions and further saute until translucent. To the bread add eggs, bacon & onion mixture, chives and seasoning and carefully mix all ingredients without mashing them. ( Stick your hands with fingers spread open along the wall of the bowl and lift the ingredients up, allowing them to fall back down without being mashed ). Repeat until evenly mixed. I suggest that at this point you should make a small sample to see how the texture of the cooked dumpling will be. Shape a small ball and cook it in simmering water for a few minutes. Remove from water and check. If the texture is too soft, you can add a bit of bread crumbs. If it is too dense, add another egg or two. Make another sample if necessary. If you are happy with the sample, shape into tennis ball sized spheres. Immerse in boiling salted water, bring back to a boil. Turn down heat to a very low simmer and let the dumplings cook for about 40 minutes. To make sure the dumplings are cooked through, remove one and cut in half. After they are done, serve at once.
Note : Leftover dumplings cannot successfully be re-heated in dumpling form, they will get very dense. I will post a recipe for a great dish  ( Geroestete Semmelknoedel mit Ei)  made with leftover bread dumplings within the next few days  🙂
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Cheers