Pierogi Irecki

OMG! Leave me on a desert island with one wish and I'd ask for an endless supply of these little beauties. A lot of work goes into these Polish dumplings but the end result is simple heavenly (note, if you're after a healthy recipe, stop reading now).

Pierogi Irecki are a family variation of Pierogi Ruski. Well, a more flavorful variant with bacon/ham and onions added. Mum and Dad taught me the ways of the pierogi when I was very young and ever since then we have churned out hundreds each year to feed the family. This is my favourite food.

Dough Ingredients:

1kg flour

2 eggs

warm ilk (warm up milk in a pot on the stove)

Filling ingredients:

equal parts potatoes and cottage cheese (this should make up 80% of the total filling)

bacon, ham or both

onions

butter

chicken stock

pepper

Firstly make the dough. Tip the flour onto a bench and make a well. Crack the eggs into the well. Add a splash or warm milk and start stirring with a blunt knife. Keep adding the warm milk as you stir, a little bit at a time, until a dough consistency is achieved. Take it a bit further and make the dough a little wet - this will make it harder to handle but easier to stretch later on. Knead well and then cut the dough into several manageable parts. Roll out one of the parts and keep the others wrapped in a tea towel - so they don't dry out. When you roll out the dough, use flour on the bench and rolling pin so nothing sticks. Get the dough to about 4mm thickness. Then use a large beer mug (or something similar) to cut out circles.

Make the filling. Boil the potatoes and cool. Fry the onions and bacon/ham in tonnes of butter and then cool. Pass the potatoes, meat and onions through a food mincer. Then add the cottage cheese and seasoning to taste (chicken stock, pepper). Mix together well.

Make the Pierogi. Take the dough circles and add a large teaspoon of mixture to the middle. Stretch the dough circle and then fold the circle in half to make a semi-circle and press the dough sides together to seal. Use a fork to seal the sides if necessary. Boil a large saucepan of water and place the pierogi into the boiling water and stir occasionally and gently. Once they rise to the top, remove them and let them cool on a plate. Then fry them in butter to finish. Garnish with bacon pieces or pork scratchings. Eat with pickled gherkins for a contrasting texture.

That's it. I think our family record is over 600 pierogi made in one day. beat that!

#Breakfast #Recipe #Dumplings #Mains