Beef roulade with cucumber and sausage meat

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 mini cucumbers
• 150 g sausage meat
• 100g bacon
• 4 beef roulades
• e.g. frying oil
• n. B. Clarified butter
• 3 onions
• 300 ml meat broth or beef stock
• 1 cup white wine (approx. 125 ml)
• 200 g crème fraîche
• e.g. tomato paste
• e.g. mustard
• e.g. salt and pepper
• n. B. Caramel coloring

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

Peel and finely chop the onions. Since they will fall apart during the long braising process, their shape is of secondary importance. Cut the cucumbers into pieces. They should be slightly shorter than the width of the meat. Then hollow out the cucumbers. This is best done with a sharp knife or a teaspoon. Squeeze the sausage meat (I always buy Thuringian sausage, but that’s a matter of taste) out of the casing and use it as a filling for the cucumbers. Then wrap the cucumbers in the bacon. Season the roulades with salt and pepper and rub them with tomato paste and mustard. Place the wrapped cucumbers in the center of the roulades. Roll up the roulades, folding the sides up slightly to seal them. Tie them once lengthwise and twice crosswise with kitchen string. Set aside the stock and white wine. Heat the cooking oil and clarified butter in a pan and sear the roulades on all sides. Once the roulades are well seared, add the onions. Once translucent, deglaze with white wine and stock and cover the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack in an oven preheated to 200°C (top/bottom heat). After about 50 minutes of cooking, remove the pan from the oven and place the roulades on an ovenproof plate or similar in the still warm, but switched off, oven. Season the sauce to taste and refine it with crème fraîche. For a more appealing appearance, you can darken the sauce with caramel coloring. Remove the kitchen string from the roulades and serve with the sauce. Red cabbage with mashed potatoes or dumplings is a good side dish.