Beef Roulades & Gherkins

📝 Ingredients

• 600 g thin slices of lean beef (4 slices of about 150 g each)
• 4 tsp Dijon mustard
• 8 gherkins (about 60 g)
• 2 carrots of about 120 g each (1 for the filling, 1 for the sauce)
• 2 brown onions of about 150 g each (1 for the filling, 1 for the sauce)
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 tbsp tomato purée (about 17 g)
• 1 beef stock cube + 500 ml hot water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp cornflour + 2 tbsp cold water (to thicken the sauce)
• 1 kg floury potatoes (for mashing)
• 200 ml semi-skimmed milk + 15 g unsalted butter (for the mash)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Flameproof casserole dish with lid
• Rolling pin + cling film
• Kitchen string
• Saucepan
• Potato masher
• Peeler

📖 Steps

1. If the slices are thicker than 5 mm, flatten them between two sheets of cling film with the rolling pin. Cut the filling carrot into sticks the width of the slices, thinly slice one onion and halve the gherkins lengthways.
2. Lay the slices flat, season with pepper (use very little salt, as the gherkins are already salty) and spread each with 1 tsp mustard. Along one short edge, arrange 4 gherkin halves, a few carrot sticks and a little sliced onion.
3. Fold the long sides in by 1 cm over the filling, then roll up tightly starting from the filled end so nothing escapes. Tie each roulade with 2 or 3 loops of string, not too tightly so as not to squash the meat.
4. Heat the oil in the casserole dish over a medium-high heat and brown the roulades for 6 to 8 min, turning them, until well coloured on all sides. Set aside on a plate. Meanwhile, finely dice the other carrot and the other onion.
5. Reduce to a medium heat, fry the diced onion and carrot in the casserole dish for 5 min, then add the tomato purée and stir for 1 min. Pour in the hot stock, scraping the bottom well to release the browned bits: they're what give the sauce its flavour.
6. Return the roulades to the dish with the bay leaf: the liquid should come halfway up. Cover and leave to simmer very gently over a low heat for 1 h 30, turning the roulades halfway through. They're ready when the tip of a knife slides in without resistance.
7. About 40 min before the end, peel the potatoes, cut them into large chunks, put them in the saucepan and cover with cold salted water. Cook for 20 to 25 min once boiling, until a knife goes through them easily, then drain.
8. Heat the milk in the empty saucepan, return the potatoes with the butter and mash with a potato masher until smooth, then season with salt and pepper. Don't use a blender: the mash would turn gluey and sticky.
9. Take out the roulades and remove the string and the bay leaf. Pour the cornflour mixed with the cold water into the sauce and cook for 1 to 2 min, stirring, until it coats the spoon. Serve the roulades whole or sliced, coated in sauce, with the mash.