Beef Roulade -a German classic

It is more then 3 years ago that I had these classic Sunday dish. It is the very first time I actually prepared it all alone.

It was a family dish on holidays like Christmas, Easter or New Year.
My parents made them on these occasions. And sometimes in between when they had time for the preparation.

The recipe is a bit time consuming. You can make the beef roulade the day before and braise it, finish the sauce on the other day.  But that way, the meat tends to get a little tough.

Recipe for 3:
3 thin slices of beef undercuts
6 slices of Black Forest raw ham
3 tbsp wild garlic or Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
1 spring onion
3 gherkins
2 tbsp hot paprika paste
1 carrot
1/5 celeriac
12 cm white of a leek
3 stalks of parsley
1 white onion
3 cloves of garlic
400 ml white wine (for a darker sauce use red wine)
600 ml beef stock
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp lard

Heat up you oven to 160 C fan.
Use a pan or pot that is oven proof and has a lid.

The beef slices may be thin, but take a tenderiser and make it a bit thinner. Season with salt and pepper an the inside.
Spread 1 tbsp of mustard over the whole slice. Place 2 ham pieces on. Chop some spring onion and quarter the gherkin.
Fold over the long sides and start rolling it into a roulade.

CLOSE IT. That's the fun part. In professional kitchens they use wooden toothpicks or their metal kinds, roulade needles. I have these needles somewhere, but not found them. But I have roulade metal bands.
You can make it like my Mom. She used copious amounts of black sewing thread. It was always fun to get it off after cooking. Pieces of meat often stuck to it and you've got an instant taste of the roulade.

Heat up 1 tbsp of oil and the lard in the pot and on high heat sear tge beef on all sides. Take them out.
Add the rest of the oil and toss in all chopped veggies. They need 5 min. Season with salt and pepper. Add the paprika paste and stir well.
Next comes the wine. Let it reduce a bit. Set the roulades in the pot and pour in the hot beef stock.
Put into the oven without a lid.
After 30 min turn the roulades, cook 30 min more, turn again and close the lid.
Now 45 min more.

When it comes to sauces, everybody likes them different. Take out the roulades and filter the veggies out and bind the sauce either with cold butter or cornstarch and water.
I like my sauce as it is and eat it with the veggies. Or use a stick blender and mix the veggies in.
Get the toothpicks, metal pins or tread off and serve.

It is here in Germany very regional what kind of side goes with it.
In Bavaria they eat dumlings and red cabbage, in Swabia Spätzle and lettuce and here mostly potatoes or pasta. But rice is good too. You decide.

I had bread dumplings and lambs lettuce as my side dishes.