Braised beef with red wine jus, pretzel dumplings and bacon beans

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 2 kg roast beef
• 1 bunch of soup vegetables
• 4 shallots
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 bay leaves
• 600 ml red wine, strong
• 400 ml beef stock
• 400 ml beef broth
• 50 g butter
• 500 g pretzel(s)
• 500 ml milk, warm
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp, heaped parsley, freshly chopped
• 2 m.-sized onion(s)
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• some nutmeg
• 750 g green beans, frozen
• 12 slices of bacon
• 1 liter vegetable broth
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 4 hours; Total time approx. 5 hours 30 minutes

Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius (top and bottom heat). Wash and roughly dice the vegetables, shallots, and garlic. Rinse the roast and pat dry. Heat oil in a pan and sear the meat well on all sides. Then transfer the roast to a roasting pan, season with salt and pepper, and rub all sides with mustard. Sauté the chopped vegetables in the hot pan until roasted. Add the tomato paste and sear briefly. Deglaze with red wine and simmer gently. Add the beef broth and beef stock and simmer for a few minutes over medium heat. Add the contents of the pan to the meat in the roasting pan and add the bay leaves. Place the whole thing in the preheated oven for about 4 hours, until an internal temperature of approximately 70 degrees Celsius is reached. Baste the roast with the liquid frequently. Tip: To make the sauce creamier, cube butter and freeze it in cling film. This will later be stirred into the otherwise prepared sauce shortly before serving and brought to a boil. While the roast is simmering in the oven, prepare the pretzel dumplings. Remove the salt from the pretzels. Cut the pretzels into small pieces and place them in a bowl. Crack the eggs into the milk and whisk with a hand blender or whisk. Season with nutmeg. Pour the egg wash over the pretzels, stir in the parsley and onion, and season with salt and pepper. Let the mixture sit for 20 minutes. Spread out a sheet of aluminum foil (matte side down), place a sheet of plastic wrap on top, and spread the dumpling mixture lengthwise on top. First wrap the mixture in the plastic wrap, then roll the aluminum foil up like a sausage. Twist the ends tightly. Let the pretzel dumplings sit in almost boiling water for about 20-30 minutes. Unwrap the dumplings, let them cool briefly, and cut into slices about 1-2 cm thick. Tip: To give the dish a creative touch, we cut out the dumpling slices with a cookie cutter after they had cooled and then fried them in butter until golden brown just before serving. While the dumplings are cooking in a double boiler, bring the vegetable stock to a boil in another pot and add two halved garlic cloves. Cook the beans in it until al dente. Then drain, refresh in cold water, drain well, and gather them into 12 bundles. Wrap each bundle tightly in a slice of bacon. Just before serving, fry the bean bundles in butter until the bacon is golden brown. Remove the roast from the oven, wrap in aluminum foil, and let it rest for another 5-10 minutes. In the meantime, drain the sauce and pass it through a sieve, bring it to a boil in a pot, and thicken it with starch until the desired sauce consistency is achieved. Stir in the frozen butter and bring back to a boil briefly. Season with salt and pepper. Carve the roast and serve it on warmed plates with the pretzel dumplings and bacon-covered beans. Happy cooking and enjoying!