Beef Rouladen

                         Beef Rouladen

So, I tried different recipes for the sauce for a good while. My daughter just never liked it. The
same with the Rouladen, what are cooked in this sauce. But today, I got her. And I got her good.
She licked her plate before she got seconds. Thats a huge success for my picky eater. She usually
just like the instant pack you can buy in Germany. But I can't get it here nor do I want to use it.
So, I basically through together 2 recipes and then added some more for my taste. And, there it is. The perfect Rouladen Sauce for my daughter. Since I started to write this blog here for her to look 
at when I am gone (or when I am just not around), I definitely need to write this down.
Just a big advantage for you guys whom follow me lol. Btw, it was really, really good.

For y'all whom don't know what Beef Rouladen is. Its a thin sliced beef steak, you pound even 
thinner and then fill it with mustard, bacon, onions and pickles. I also like to add those roasted red bell peppers from the glass. Then rolled up and cooked until its basically falling apart. 


This is what you need for the meat:

- thin sliced beef round steak, extra pound really thin (as you can get without making holes)

- Mustard, Salt and Pepper

- Onions, sliced

- Pickles, thin sliced

- Roasted red peppers from the glass, sliced

- Bacon



This is what you need for the sauce:

- 2 Stacks Celery, course diced

- 2 small or 1 big yellow onion

- 2 Carrots, course diced with skin

- 1 big TSP Tomato Paste

- 125 ml Port wine (or any red wine)

- 250 ml Beef Broth

- 250 ml water

- 2 Bay Leaves

- Corn starch for slurry

- 1 TSP Brown Gravy

- Salt to taste (after everything is done. Don't add to cooking process) 


This is how you do it:

After pounding the beef steaks, season them with salt and pepper. Just on one side. Then add a good layer of mustard. I use german mustard, but you can use Dijon if you can't find german. Then add 1-2 slices of Bacon. Diagonally, lay down some onions, pickles and the bell peppers. Now roll it up, trying to fold the sides into the middle while rolling to secure the stuff inside. Now close it with a metal stick and set aside. Repeat with the others. My daughter just liked it with the bacon and no other stuff. Yes, she IS a picky eater.

Dice the carrots, celery and onion. Put Ghee or butter in a big stainless steal pan and heat up. Roll the Beef Rouladen in some Flour. Now pan fry them on each side for a couple of min until they nice and brown and seared. Remove them from the pan.

 Add a little bit more butter and the vegetables and let them pan fry for a couple of min.. You want to get a little color on them for the roasty flavor. When they are done, add a good TSP of Tomato paste and stir for 1 min.. Then add the Port Wine and stir well and let simmer until you don't smell no alcohol no more. Then add the beef Rouladen back into the pan, the 2 bay leaves and fill it up with the water and the beef broth. The Rouladen should be slightly covered. Bring back to a simmer and let it cook on low, covered for 90 min..

When the 90 min are over, remove the meat and strain the vegetables through a strainer. Try to 
remove the fat us good as you can. You can put it in the freezer for an hrs or until the fat on top is hardend and easy to remove. I didn't have time for that today so I just used a ladle. Make a slurry with corn starch and cold water and add to the sauce. 1 TSP of Brown Gravy and bring it back to a simmer. Should be a nice creamy consistency. Now add as much salt as needed for the taste.

I served today Potato dumblings and blue Cabbage with it. But you can also serve it with mashed potatoes or just in saltwater cooked Potatoes and vegetables. 


Guten Appetit

Hungarian Gulasch

                      Hungarian Gulasch

This recipe is one of those instant product recipes I tried to cook from scratch. I found it on a german page, but since I checked the ingredient list, I added some herbs and I changed some ingredients. I think now its pretty close to the instant product, because my picky eater approved it. 


This is what you need:

- 1 lbs beef stew meat

- 1 lbs pork stew meat

- 1 Bell pepper, preferable red, cubed

- 1 Onion, minced

- 1 glove Garlic, minced

- 1 TSP sweet hungarian Paprika 

- 1 TSP Paprika hot or smoked Paprika

- 1 TBSP Flour

- 1 TBSP Tomato Paste

- 400 ml Beef broth

-100 ml red wine (the one you would drink)

- 100 ml water

- salt, Pepper

- 1 TSP Marjoram

- 1 TSP ground Rosemary 

- 1 TSP ground Caraway 

- 1 Bay Leave, ground



This is how you do it:

In a large skillet or pot, pan fry the meat (if necessary in batches) from all sides until they nice brown. Remove from Pan. Add a bit oil or Ghee and on low heat, cook the onions until their soft. Then add the Garlic and the Bell Pepper and cook it for another 5 min or until they have soft brown color. Now add the meat back into it and the Flour and Tomato paste and cook it for a min.. Now add the Broth, Water and Wine and the herbs, cover it and let it simmer for around 90 min. or until the meat is nice and soft. If necessary you can add more herbs and salt at the end. Also, if its to runny, just make a slurry. It's not suppose to be super thick.  

Traditionally we serve wide egg noddles with it. But you may also serve it with mashed potatoes, rice or just plain with a bread roll. 

Guten Appetit