Written by Ralph
Inspired by Oma Marion (my mother), this German-inspired pierogi recipe features tender potato and cottage cheese dumplings topped with a bacon and sour cream sauce. Pierogi are a traditional Polish dumpling made from dough and stuffed with various fillings, including cheese, potatoes, and other variations.
In the Beier family, my mother and aunt both made a version that is more of a potato Klöße or Knödel than a pierogi. I grew up thinking this was what pierogis were, so that’s what I call them.
Whatever the name, it is the bacon and sour cream sauce that is the star of the show.
Normally, when I make gnocchi (the Italian version of a potato dumpling), I use a ricer to press the boiled potatoes to the proper consistency. I recall my mother using a mixture of cooked and raw potatoes in her pierogi, but it would have been very difficult to press a raw potato through a ricer.
I remember my mother using her juicer to macerate the raw potato, which also removed excess water. Since I don’t have a juicer, I used my meat grinder (Fleischwolf) attachment on my KitchenAid on the finest grind setting.
Alternatively, you could use a hand grater or a food processor to grate them.
Other Oma Marion recipes are available here.
Ingredients:
- 3 very large starchy potatoes or 5 medium (800 g – 1000 g total)
- 1 egg
- Potato flour/ starch (amount needed depends on the starchiness of the potatoes)
- 300 g cubed bacon
- 300 g sour cream
- 200 g cottage cheese (Hüttenkäse or körnige Frischkäse)
- Salt and white pepper
Instructions:
- Peel all the potatoes and boil one-third until tender.
- Run the raw potato through the meat grinder, then strain it through a strainer to remove excess water.
- Pour the water out of the bowl, wipe it down, and put the ground potato back in. Pass the boiled potatoes through the grinder into the same bowl and stir them together with a fork.
- Add the egg and stir vigorously. If the potatoes are very wet, only use the yolk.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. (Remember, they will be served with a bacon sour cream sauce, so consider how salty your bacon is.)
- Sprinkle the starch in tablespoons over the potatoes and continue blending with the fork. You could use the mixer’s dough attachment for this, but I prefer to do it by hand so I can feel when it reaches the proper consistency for forming. When the dough is no longer sloppy, you are ready to form the dumplings.
- Take a palmful of dough in one hand and flatten it slightly to form a shallow bowl in the centre (see video). Add about a teaspoon of cottage cheese to the bowl and form the covering piece in the other hand. Place the cover over and gently press the sides in making sure no cottage cheese is visible. Press it together like a snowball and place it on a smooth plate or pan. Continue until all the dough is used.
- Bring a large pot or pan of salted water to a boil. It should be just deep enough to cover the dumplings. Gently place the dumplings in the water and return to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, rolling them occasionally if they aren’t completely submerged.
- While the dumplings are cooking, fry the bacon in a pot until just crisp, then drain the fat. Off the heat, add the sour cream and stir it in. The pot should be just warm, not hot, or the sour cream will separate. Keep the burner on low and the sauce warm until the dumplings are ready.
- Remove the dumplings from the water, transfer them to a bowl, and place them in a warm oven or serve immediately. Ladle generous portions of the sauce and enjoy!
Oma Marion’s Pierogi with a Bacon and Sour Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Method
- Peel all of the potatoes and boil one-third of them until tender.
- Run the raw potato through the meat grinder, then strain it through a strainer and squeeze to remove excess water.
- Pour the water out of the bowl, wipe it down, and put the ground potato back in. Pass the boiled potatoes through the grinder into the same bowl and stir them together with a fork.
- Add the egg and stir vigorously. If the potatoes are very wet, only use the yolk.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. (Remember, they will be served with a bacon sour cream sauce, so consider how salty your bacon is.)
- Sprinkle the starch in tablespoons over the potatoes and continue blending with the fork. You could use the mixer’s dough attachment for this, but I prefer to do it by hand so I can feel when it reaches the proper consistency for forming. When the dough is no longer sloppy, you are ready to form the dumplings.
- Take a palmful of dough in one hand and flatten it slightly to form a shallow bowl in the centre (see video). Add about a teaspoon of cottage cheese to the bowl and form the covering piece in the other hand. Place the cover over and gently press the sides in making sure no cottage cheese is visible. Press it together like a snowball and place it on a smooth plate or pan. Continue until all the dough is used.
- Bring a large pot or pan of salted water to a boil. It should be just deep enough to cover the dumplings. Gently place the dumplings in the water and return to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, rolling them occasionally if they aren’t completely submerged.
- While the dumplings are cooking, fry the bacon in a pot until just crisp, then drain the fat. Off the heat, add the sour cream and stir it in. The pot should be just warm, not hot, or the sour cream will separate. Keep the burner on low and the sauce warm until the dumplings are ready.
- Remove the dumplings from the water, transfer them to a bowl, and place them in a warm oven or serve immediately. Ladle generous portions of the sauce and enjoy!