For 24 pieces25-50 cl beef stock*
dough:
300 g all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tbs oil
3 tbs water
filling:
2-3 slices bacon, cooked & chopped
½ onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
25 g day-old bread or rolls, cut into cubes, sprinkled with 2 tbs water
2 tbs fresh or 1 ts dried parsley
1 tbs spicy mustard
¼ ts dried thyme
¼ ts dried marjoram
250 g ground lean beef with just a little fat**
125 g (frozen) spinach, (thawed), squeezed dry & chopped***
1 egg
¼ tsp salt
pepper
Mix flour with salt, eggs, oil and just enough water to make a smooth dough. Knead for 5-10 m. Form dough into a ball, oil surface, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for at least 1 h.
Cook bacon and remove from pan. Sauté onions and garlic in bacon drippings until translucent.
Mix all filling ingredients well. For a finer texture, put ingredients through a meat grinder.
Roll out half of the dough to 3 mm thickness or thinner.
Score dough with a knife to make 12 rectangles.
Place 1 tbs filling on each rectangle. Fold rectangle over and pinch sides to close.
Repeat with the other half of dough.
Bring broth to a simmer and place 8 of the Maultaschen in the broth.* Cook for 15-20 m. Remove and drain. Keep warm if not serving immediately. Repeat with the rest of the Maultaschen.
Serve in bowl with some stock. Sprinkle with chives and/or parsley.
*Or fry them with a bit of mixed egg yolk and egg white on each side. Serve them with Swabian potato salad.
**Or use a mix of ground pork and beef meat.
***Or another vegetable like onions, carrots, turnips.
Filled dough bags are wide-spread as Italian ravioli, Chinese wontons, Jewish kreplach, Eastern European pierogi, Russian pelmeni, Ukrainian varenyky, Tibetan momo, Turkish mantı, Levantine shishbarak, Maltese ravjul or these Maultaschen (feeding bags for cattle) in German Swabia.
They are rumoured to have been invented by monks of the Maulbronn monastery to conceal the fact that they were eating meat during lent. The monks hid the meat inside of the Maultaschen, believing that God couldn't see it.
Founded in 1147, the Cistercian Maulbronn monastery, World Cultural Heritage since 1993, is considered the most complete and best-preserved medieval monastic complex north of the Alps. It was constructed between the 12th and 16th centuries and was a major influence in the spread of Gothic architecture in northern and central Europe.
