SOMETHING FALLISH: ROULADEN & KNODEL

Years ago, when we were living down in Kingsville, Texas (home of the infamous King Ranch) our next door neighbor was an air traffic controller at the naval air station there. He and his wife, Big Red -- about a foot taller than either one of us, with unnaturally red hair -- had met in Germany when he was stationed there. One fall she had us over for dinner, and prepared something called rouladen, which she served with knodel -- a round potato dumpling. Ever since then, as soon as the weather turns cool and I start seeing ads for all the Oktoberfest celebrations here in the Hill Country, I get the urge to eat it again. Lucky for me, not only did she share the recipe with me, it's actually very, very easy to make!

ROULADEN (8 servings)

3 1/2 lbs. steak, cube or flank, sliced thin
mustard
lemon pepper
garlic salt
dill pickle spears
water
beef bouillon granules 
3 T. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. Kitchen Bouquet

Pound steaks to 1/4" thickness. Spread with mustard on one side and sprinkle with seasonings (don't skimp on the seasonings, or your gravy will be bland. I added a good bit of ground pepper as well). Cut meat into serving sized pieces. Place a thin spear of pickle on each piece, roll up and secure with toothpicks or kitchen twine.

Place in a large skillet. Add water to cover and about a tablespoon of beef bouillon granules. Bring to boil, skimming off any foam, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, 1-2 hours.

Transfer meat to a warm platter and remove picks, then cover with foil to keep warm. Skim fat from broth if you wish. Blend cornstarch with 4 T. cold water and stir into broth. Cook and stir until thick. Stir in Kitchen Bouquet until blended and pour gravy over the rouladen. Serve extra sauce to go on knodel or spaetzle.

Now, I'm sure you can find a recipe for making knodel from scratch, but if these mixes are good enough for my German friend Big Red, they are good enough for me.

The good news is that I just happened to have one of each in my pantry when I suddenly got the urge to make rouladen. The bad news is that they were both more than a year out of date!

Fortunately, it was still pretty darn yummy, even with ordinary egg noodles. Now do yourself a favor. Go have a belated Oktoberfest celebration with your friends or family!