Rouladen

I forgot to take a pic of our meal, so the photo above came from this blog

Lately we've all been craving fresh green things to eat. It's getting to be that time where winter has lost some of its luster, to say the least. My son E went shopping with me and even though it was a quick run to grab a few key items, he kept throwing fresh vegetables into our cart. I felt like a bad mom taking them back out! I consented on bananas, a red pear and fresh broccoli. I would've spent $50 on fresh produce if he had his way.
2010 was not a huge year for us for preserving things, so we are very low on the things we managed to put by. The beef I bought in August is just about gone (seriously only have two porterhouses left). The canned items are down to a few jars of dilly beans, pickles and strawberry jam. I have a small jar of dehydrated tomatoes left. The pantry is in a sad state and growing season is still a long way off. (However, that groundhog yesterday apparently claims spring will come early this year. And my observant neighbor noticed the Super League of Urban Squirrels that live in our backyards have been surprisingly active and silly these days and the starlings have begun making nests in our other neighbor's garage. Those are spring time activities! So we're hopeful the groundhog is right.)

Yesterday while trying to creatively scrap together a meal from a paltry pantry, I came up with one of my favorite meals! When I told my husband we should have rouladen for dinner, he told me I'm crazy, we can't afford that! See, when there's a special occasion, we like to go to Metzger's (German restaurant in A2) and spend too much money on very good food and beer. It's indulgent and I hate having buyer's remorse for food, but it is very good. The place also brings on nostalgic olefactory delights for me, as Metzger's smells like my grandma's house used to: caraway; moth balls; some sort of beef/sausage stewing for hours; dark bread...
So I said, NO! We're gonna MAKE rouladen!
And here is what we did:

Defrosted two huge t-bone steaks (courtesy of beef from another midwife in Hesperia, Michigan at Earthscape Farm)
Cut the bone away, pound the meat to 1/4" thickness and cut into strips 3" wide.
Smear stone-ground mustard on beef, lay a strip of bacon on each strip. Add a layer of thinly cut onions and add a pickle (cucumber). Wrap the beef into a roll and hold in place with toothpicks. Sear the beef, then add 2 1/2 cups beef broth and let simmer for 45 minutes or so.
Remove rouladen, make a gravy with the left-over juices and add 1/4 cup sour cream to gravy. Pour over the rouladen and eat!
We tried to also make spaetzle, which was a huge FAIL. I love spaetzle, so I will try again another day.
We ate the rouladen with our homemade sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Delish!
From the two steaks, we got 5 rouladen rolls. We fed four kids (we had a friend over) and two adults. Cheap and so tasty. All I forgot was the romantic polka crooner music...next time!