23 Mar Easter pierogi in fermented rye soup from Mazury
Pierogi in żurek
Pierogi served inside a żurek soup is not the most typical Polish dish that everyone has heard of. While both are traditional, for the two to actually meet is quite unusual. It’s something that I was introduced to by a New Yorker I met on the internet. Tosia, who procured it from her aunt, Nina, who lives in the Mazury lake district. The recipe is in my third cookbook, Pierogi. While not so common these days, it fits to serve pierogi in soup. Uszka (the Polish tortelloni) are typically served inside barszcz and some of the first pierogi ever recorded in the 17th Century Polish cookbook Compedium Ferculorum were also served in soup. In those days, there were no potatoes in Poland, so it made
sense. I believe that it still does.
The soup
Żurek is fermented rye soup that we eat mainly at Easter. However, I remember one summer holiday as a teenager in the Tatry mountains, where the nuns would serve us żurek with white sausage every single morning. This was thought to give us strength for our hikes. Żurek, therefore, is considered to be a soup that fortifies. At Easter, it’s common to find either white sausage or a hard-boiled egg in there.
Recipe for Easter pierogi in fermented rye soup
These pierogi combine two of my favourite things – żurek (see above) and dumplings. Therefore, I have decided to make them this Easter, as one of my contributions to the brunch table. If you would like to join me, then you still have plenty of time to ferment the rye. You could also buy the fermented rye in a bottle from the Polish shop. Most people do. They are made slightly bigger than your usual pierogi. I am using a simpler dough than the one in the book, the more traditional one, without eggs.
Easter pierogi from the Mazury lakes
Cuisine: PolishDifficulty: Intermediate4
servingsLarge pierogi filled with potatoes, eggs, bacon and herbs. As with most pierogi, you can experiment with the fillings. You could forgo the bacon, or add some sausage meat instead. You could replace the meat with some mushrooms too. Adapted from Pierogi cookbook by Zuza Zak.
Ingredients
- For the żur
4 tablespoons rye flour
400ml warm water from a pre-boiled kettle
3 garlic cloves, slightly squashed
- For the dough
300g flour
large pinch of salt
2 tablespoons mild oil
120ml warm water from a pre-boiled kettle
- For the filling
100 bacon, finely diced
3 eggs
2 floury potatoes, boiled and mashed
2 tablespoons finely chopped spring onions (scallions), chopped
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
Salt and white pepper
- For the soup
1 carrot, peeled
1 parsnip, peeled
1/4 celeriac, peeled or 2 celery sticks with leaves, halved
1 onion, charred over a stove
100g dried wild mushrooms, washed and rehydrated overnight
1 bay leaf
5 peppercorns
2 litres water
4 tablespoons brine from a jar of gherkins or 1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon marjoram
100ml single (light) cream
salt and pepper
- To serve
butter, for frying
Directions
- First, we make the żur: Place the rye flour in a sterilised jam jar and cover with the water. Stir well, add the garlic. Cover jar with a tea towel and leave in your kitchen at room temperature for 4 days, stirring once a day. It’s ready when it smells sour. It can take up to 5 days, if you’re kitchen is cold. Then, you may screw on the lid and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- To make the soup, place all the vegetables in a large pan with the bay leaf, peppercorns and salt (I like to use about half a teaspoon to start). Bring to the boil, the turn the heat down and simmer for one hour.
- When making the dough, place all the dough ingredients in a large bowl and bring together with your hands, until a soft dough form. Knead on a floured surface for 6-7min, then cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rest for 20min.
- To prepare the filling, fry the bacon bits until crispy. Mix with the mashed potato, chives, spring onions and eggs. Season and mix the filling well to incorporate. I like to use my hand for this.
- Once the soup is ready, allow it to stand for 30min to cool down, then discard all the vegetables. Add the żur, brine or lemon juice, marjoram and cream (making sure it doesn’t curdle). Season again.
- Roll the dough out thinly on a floured surface. Cut out large circles of about 9-10cm in diameter. Place a tablespoon of filling inside each one and seal by pressing the sides together into a half moon shape.
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add half a teaspoon of salt to it. Once the water is bubbling, lower the pierogi into it gently, in batch. Once the float to the top, they are ready, remove them carefully with a slotted spoon and place on a plate with some oil or butter on it. Make sure they have space and aren’t touching.
- Once you are ready to eat, heat the soup gently (we don’t want it to boil) and fry the pierogi in some butter, for about 2min each side;