Veal Rouladen

Every once in a while, Ray digs deep into his European archive of food dishes and throws a curve ball of an idea at us that makes us raise our eyebrows and wonder if he's onto something brilliant?  Or if he's just pulling our leg?

In this case, he's introduced all of us to veal rouladen (not pulling your leg on this one). Veal rouladen is a classic Middle European dish that you don't see too often on restaurant menus. Considered mostly as a festive dish - much like or turkey or ham on holidays - rouladen (pronounced ROO-LA-DEN) is a thinly sliced veal cutlet that is generously spread with stone ground mustard and then rolled with carrots and pickles.

The term roulade originates from the French word "rouler," meaning to roll. Typically, most roulade dishes are filled and then wrapped with pastry. It's not uncommon for people to confuse roulade with beef wellington.  Our version of rouladen - another variation from the two - puts an Uptown spin on a classic roulade dish. 

We take our "wrapped meat roll" and braise it with a housemade veal demi glace before serving it over freshly-buttered spaetzle. To finish the dish off, it is paired with a heaping portion of braised green and red cabbage mixed with applewood smoked bacon to help absorb the veal demi glace.

It's not everyday you get to sample something like this from the old country, and it's a very classical dish in a sense. It's down-home ethnic comfort food, and it's guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser. For all the Illinois Valley folk of German or Polish descent, this one should be right up your alley!

So stop in and see us before this dish rolls on down the road!