Stuffed veal or beef rissoles (Blinde vinken)

Traditional recipe from The Netherlands

• 4 thin slices of veal or beef
• 2 large slices of bread
• some milk
• salt
• pinch of nutmeg
• 60g of ground veal or beef or sausage meat
• 1 egg
• 4 thin slices of lean bacon
• cotton thread or cocktail sticks
• 1 tbsp of cooking oil
• bread crumbs or Dutch rusks
• butter or margarine

Crumble the bread and soak it in milk until soft. Make into a smooth paste with a fork.

Add salt, grated nutmeg and the ground meat. Work it into a firm mixture with no lumps of bread.

Separate the egg. Brush every slice of meat with a little of unbeaten white of egg and coat this side with a slice of bacon.

Roll up and secure the meat with some cotton thread or stick 2 cocktail sticks where the meat joins.

Put the rest of the egg white, the yolk and the cooking oil in a deep plate. Mix it with a fork.

Put some bread crumbs or finely ground rusks on a piece of greaseproof paper.

Put the 'rissoles' through egg, roll them in bread crumbs and melt some margarine in a shallow pan until golden brown.

Put the meat in the fat, fry to golden brown, then add a little water. Cover the pan and simmer for 20 minutes.

Carefully remove the threads or the cocktail sticks, use the sauce as a gravy over, for example, mashed potatoes.