Sauerbraten and Kartoffelklösse

How was everyone's Valentine's Day?  Full of love I hope, I know mine sure was.  We got to sleep in,  I woke up to roses and a sweet card, we went on a foggy hike in Forest Park, visited with my parents for a bit, and then we made this German meal.  I hadn't ever made Sauerbraten or Kartoffelklösse (potato dumplings) and so to be honest our meal turned out ok but not fabulous.  The dumplings were the hard part and seemed a little bland to me, plus we didn't deep fry them which is how they were served most often in Germany.  Any way around it we still had lots of fun cooking this meal together, here are the two recipes we used.  Below is a picture of my fiance having fun rolling the dumplings.  Oh and I will get back to the New Orleans stories next post.  Now let's get to the food.

Serves 4

The Ingredients

For the Sauerbraten:

1 boneless beef chuck roast or rump roast (3 pounds)

4 cups water

1 bottle (14 ounces) ketchup

1 large onion, chopped

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon mixed pickling spices

3 bay leaves

1-1/2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies (about 30 cookies)

Gravy:

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water 

For the Kartoffelklösse:

4 slices bread

2 tbsp butter

about 2 lb cooked cold russet potatoes 

about 1 cup flour

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

The Process

1.  Place roast in a 5-qt. slow cooker; add water. In a large bowl, combine the ketchup, onion, brown sugar and vinegar; pour over roast.

2.  Place pickling spices and bay leaves on a double thickness of cheesecloth; bring up corners of cloth and tie with string to form a bag. Add spice bag and cookie crumbs to slow cooker.

3.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is tender.

4.  With about a half hour left for the roast to cook start the dumplings.  Make croutons by cutting bread into cubes.  Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the bread cubes and fry, stirring frequently, until nicely browned on all sides. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

5.  Mash the cold potatoes.  Mix into potatoes, 1 cup flour, eggs and salt to make a dough that holds together when formed into dumplings. If the mixture is too moist, add a bit more flour.  Form dumplings, approximately 2 inches in diameter, adding a few croutons to the middle of each dumpling. 

6.  Drop gently into pot of boiling, salted water. Simmer gently, uncovered, about 15 - 20 minutes.

7.  While dumplings are cooking remove roast and keep warm. Discard spice bag. Strain cooking juices; transfer 4 cups to a large saucepan. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into cooking juices. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice roast; serve with gravy.  

8.  When dumplings are done remove with slotted spoon and serve immediately.  We also roasted cabbage to go along with this meal.