cook.
Bryndzové Halušky
Raw grated potato dumplings folded through sheep cheese, with bacon and its fat over the top
Ingredients
800 g floury potatoes, peeled
250 g plain flour
1 egg
1 tsp salt
250 g bryndza (or a soft sheep cheese, loosened with a little cream)
150 g smoked bacon, diced
black pepper
100 ml sour cream (optional)
10 g chives, snipped
Method
Render the bacon first in a dry pan over medium heat until the pieces are crisp and there is a good pool of fat. Take the pan off but keep everything in it, warm.
Grate the potatoes raw on the fine side of a grater, into a bowl. Do not boil them. This is the step every wrong version of this recipe gets wrong.
Do not drain the liquid off. The potato water and its starch are what bind the dough - pour it away and you will need far more flour, and the halušky turn heavy.
Work in the flour, egg and salt until you have a thick, sticky batter that drops slowly off a spoon rather than a dough you could roll. It should look wetter than seems right.
Bring a wide pan of salted water to the boil. Push the batter through a halušky sieve, or spread it on a wet board and flick small pieces off the edge with a knife dipped in the water.
They are done when they float, about 3-4 minutes. Lift them out with a slotted spoon straight into the warm bacon pan, and keep a ladle of the cooking water back.
Loosen the bryndza in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of that hot water until it is a thick cream. Do this off the heat - bryndza splits and goes grainy if you cook it.
Fold it through the drained halušky off the stove, so the heat of the dumplings is all that warms it.
Serve at once, the bacon and its fat spooned over the top, chives and pepper, and sour cream if you want it.
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