Zrazy

Ingredients

• 800g beef top round, sliced against the grain into 8 thin steaks
• Salt and black pepper
• 3 tbsp butter, divided
• 1 large onion, finely chopped, divided
• 200g button mushrooms, finely chopped (or 30g dried porcini, soaked 1 hour and chopped, soaking liquid reserved)
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
• 2 large dill pickles, cut into thin spears
• 1/4 cup flour, for dredging
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cups (480ml) beef stock (or the reserved mushroom soaking liquid topped up with stock)
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

Before you cook

• Place the beef slices between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat mallet until about 1/4 inch thick
• Season both sides of each beef slice with salt and pepper
• Boil the eggs for 9 minutes, then cool, peel, and quarter them
• Finely chop the onion and mushrooms
• Cut the dill pickles into thin spears about the length of the beef slices

Steps

1. Melt 2 tbsp of the butter in a skillet over medium heat
2. Add half the chopped onion and all the mushrooms and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has cooked off and the mixture turns golden
3. Scrape the onion-mushroom mixture into a bowl and let it cool for 10 minutes
4. Lay the pounded beef slices flat on a work surface
5. Spoon an even layer of the cooled onion-mushroom mixture onto each beef slice, leaving a half-inch border
6. Lay a pickle spear and a quarter of a hard-boiled egg along one edge of each slice
7. Roll each beef slice up tightly around the filling, starting from the edge with the pickle and egg
8. Secure each roll with a toothpick or tie it with kitchen string
9. Spread the flour on a plate and roll each beef bundle in it, shaking off the excess
10. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat
11. Brown the beef rolls on all sides, about 6-7 minutes total, then transfer them to a plate
12. Lower the heat to medium, add the remaining butter and the remaining chopped onion to the pot, and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened
13. Return the browned beef rolls to the pot
14. Pour in the beef stock, making sure it comes about halfway up the rolls
15. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and braise for 45 minutes, turning the rolls once halfway through
16. Lift the rolls onto a serving platter and remove the toothpicks or string
17. Stir the sour cream into the pan juices to make a gravy, scraping up any browned bits
18. Simmer the gravy for 2 minutes, then spoon it over the rolls
19. Scatter the chopped dill over the top and serve with mashed potato or buckwheat kasha