Beef roulades according to a country woman's recipe

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 onions
• 1 carrot(s)
• 1 stalk(s) Celery
• 4 beef roulades
• salt and pepper
• 3 tbsp oil
• 4 tbsp mustard
• 4 slice(s) bacon, streaky or breakfast bacon
• 4 gherkins
• 1 bunch of soup vegetables
• 3 tsp tomato paste
• 250 ml red wine
• 500 ml meat broth
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 sprig(s) of thyme
• 4 sage leaves

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

Peel the onions, cut one into eighths, and finely chop the other onion and gherkins. Wash the carrot and celery and cut each into 4 sticks. Season the roulades with salt and pepper, spread with mustard, and top each with a slice of bacon. Arrange the gherkins, carrots, celery, and the eighths of the onion on top. Roll up the roulades and secure them with toothpicks, roulade pins, or roulade rings. Heat oil in a roasting pan and fry the roulades until nicely browned on all sides. In the meantime, wash and chop the soup vegetables, then add them to the roulades along with the chopped onions and fry. Add the tomato paste and fry briefly, then deglaze everything with the red wine and reduce slightly. Pour in the meat stock, add the bay leaves, thyme, and sage, cover, and braise in a preheated oven (180 degrees fan-assisted oven) on the middle rack for 1.5 hours. Then remove the roulades from the stock, remove the herbs, and purée the sauce with a hand blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the roulades in the sauce. It tastes best with boiled potatoes, and the sauce is simply delicious.