Worth a try...
I haven't had potato dumplings in years but I'll give this try tomorrow. The dumplings are delicious by themselves but the bacon (!!!!!!!!!!) is a nice twist.
It's onwards and eastwards this week with our post-pub nosh neckfiller as we travel to Slovakia in search of bryndzové halušky. This traditional dish of potato dumplings (halušky) is topped with bryndza sheep cheese, and endears itself to British palates with the inclusion of bacon, the miracle powers of which to counter the …
Sounds very similar to Italian gnocchi, although I usualy make that with cooked and mashed potato rather than raw, grated potato.
Aldi do it ready made in vacuum sealed packs (and probably full of chemicals/preservatives) if any less kitchen familier types want to try it. Just don't over boil it.
Make gnocchi as usual[1]. Freeze the result.
Take straight out of the freezer, and fry in olive oil and butter (shallots, garlic, red pepper flakes, etc, as you see fit ...) until browned on the bottom side. Then toss occasionally as you produce your sauce of choice. Note how the ice-crystals slowly turn to steam, turning the final product into lovely pillows of chow. Add sauce of choice & serve. Enjoy :-)
The above sounds easy. But the devil is in the details. But it's actually not really difficult once you've followed the directions, below ;-)
[1] 1 pound of boiled russet potatoes, 1 pound of AP flour, 1.5 tsp (4g) salt, a couple eggs[2], water as needed. Rice[3] the spuds. Spread the result on your board to cool. When cool, crack a couple eggs into a well in the riced spuds. Add half the flour/salt mix, and kneed gently (I use the "biscuit" method[4]). Add more flour/salt to minimize stickiness. Let rest for an hour, wrapped in plastic, in the fridge. Cut small portions, roll into a 3/8inch log, cut into 3/4inch segments. Either form into traditional gnocchi, or freeze as is. But do freeze it.
[2] Two or three eggs. I don't know your chickens. For best results, beat a few together and add them slowly, until you grok how your local ingredients work ...
[3] Ricer or food mill. Mashing or food processor develops too much gluten.
[4] Once the mix is on the board, I pull up the two thirds on my left & right and put it down on top of the middle third of the mix. It's messy. Do it four or five times, until it comes together.
Without Bryndza, you cannot say you ate the real deal. The gnocchi-like "carrier", athough some may like it alone (I do :-) is just a dull background to the incredible and breathtaking flavour of genuine Bryndza. Not sure if any British sheep cheese can rival the raw animal energy of the Slovak Bryndza. Unforgettable. I'm not a Slovak - to me, once was enough.
not sure about the flavor of british sheep cheese, but over here slovak sheep cheese and bryndza taste very differently, including consistency (both great though, fresh sheep cheese has soft to touch consistency, a bit like a gum, and nicely squeaks when chewed :)
consistency of "bryndza" on the other hand is more "crumbly".
the shape of each dumpling is quite improved when using special grater although skilled chef will make nice uniform dumplings even with just plain cutting board and knife
there are many variations of course
you can also pour "milk cream" (not sure if thats proper translation, its called "smotana" over here :)) or use additional cheese (the kind that melts - neither bryndza nor sheep cheese melts) on top of finished halušky
halušky can be further processed - like roast a bit in the oven until its nice crusty (works both for fresh and even day old leftovers)
can be served with "žinčica" which is a drink made of sheep milk whey, byproduct of making bryndza. though if you're not used to "žinčica", be prepared for some fast bowel movements :)
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just googled to see if anyone sells this online and apparently someone does :)
http://www.halusky.co.uk/czech-slovak-foods/bryndza-sheep-milk-cheese-100g.html
looks like they have got a good selection of products, i can also recommend cheese "korbáčiky", "pareničky", pastries "závin", "koláč"
And let's not forget the unforgettable czech delicacy - syrečky (olomoucké tvarůžky for some):
http://www.halusky.co.uk/czech-slovak-foods/olom-tvarozky-smelly-cheese-80g.html#.VHMOW_mG_ks
Actually very nice and not THAT smelly (comparable to gorgonzola, but a bit "cleaner" smell). Be prepared to let them ripen a bit:-)
Almost no fat and full of protein. Best served on freshly baked bread with butter, with a pinch of salt and pepper on top.
Regarding the alternative recipe with cabbage - yes that's the less radical version, making Halušky more accessible to non-Slovaks :-) The cabbage is supposed to be pickled/fermented/sour (Sauerkraut), definitely not fresh and crisp. Not sure at what stage the cabbage gets mixed in - it's definitely not served separate and cold.
<i>Haluski i capustu</i> my grandmother made plenty. Sauerkraut would be nice, obviously, but she always used fresh cabbage, cooked down in a frying pan, often with bacon, onion, black pepper. (þæt wæs god etende!) The cooled boiled haluski (she flicked them from a plate with a spoon) were then tossed around in the frying pan with the cabbage. Alternatively, they go in soups. Alternatively, just heat them up in a pan in butter. Wonderful little clouds. ...Well, dense and heavy clouds, but definitely cumuliform. Great article & series theme, but the cheese was not mentioned on the print-n-post guide.
Or gnocchi, or latkes, or croquettes, or ...
Same ingredients, similar cooking methodology[1]. Seasoning and or/sauce varies according to mood and what's ripe in the garden.
Bacon is always a nice accompaniment, as is speck, as is prosciutto, as is jamón ...
[1] Hot oil or hot water ... water's cheaper, and healthier ;-)
> to describe the object in your pic as a dumpling stretches credibility I think.
Well, there are different things that are translated as "dumplings" in Central European cuisine, and halušky are definitely one of those (the others I can think of right now would be knedlíky [cs] / Knödel [de-AT] and noky [cs], which are almost, but not quite, entirely unlike gnocchi).
A couple of things I ate in Austria, a part from the omnipresent Wienerschnizel, were "Noedel" (i think), that was served as micro-gnocchi, drenched in pizza spicy oil, with spring onions, garlic, bacon bits, and melted cheese , and somthing similar to this article, but the potatoes were thin sliced, fried, with bacon, fried onions, and totally dripping in melted cheese.... Lovely stuff, holds you down on a winter day. So good that you keep tasting it at each belch during your afternoon long indigestion...
Thanks for posting an article on Bryndzové Halušky but why did you have to make such a massacre of the recipe ?
1) Eggs in bryndzové halušky ? What ?
2) The potato grater you used is wrong. You want the one with spikes that reduces raw potatoes to a uniform paste, not the grater that makes thin strips. That's for carrots.
3) Bacon ? C'mon, the real thing is flavoured with lard, not bacon. You know what lard is right ?
4) Kitchen knife and cutting board are the tools of the trade for dispatching small pieces of the dough into the boiling water pot.
5) Bryndza: sadly not readily available outside of Slovakia but halušky are not the real thing without Bryndza. Bryndza is not a strong cheese, it does not smell, it's fresh cheese actually. It looks like cottage cheese but is made from sheep. It has a distinct flavour though.
An finally, for those who need even more calories on tom of the potatoes, flour, lard and cheese, it is a delicacy to "lighten" your halušky with a touch of sour cream and I like them with a glass of fermented milk.
Dobrú chuť (good appetite - Bon appétit)
(and jokes aside, thanks for the article)
> 3) Bacon ? C'mon, the real thing is flavoured with lard, not bacon. You know what lard is right ?
Spot on! If the stuff you're using has any traces of meat in it, as opposed to being pure fat, you're doing it wrong.
> It [bryndza] has a distinct flavour though.
Very euphemistically put.
I fucking hate halušky with a passion, but if you're going to inflict them on yourself, I agree it has to be done right.
In my part of the states (Pittsburgh), Halushky is acceptable as wedding buffet fare, but it's very basic. Egg noodles, cabbage sauteed in butter long enough to caramelize a bit, maybe some onions thrown in there.
Bacon is turning the flavor up to 11. Nothing wrong with that. Halushky to me has a volume of about 2 or 3, but it's sublimely good. Fresh noodles, good butter, and the cabbage... awesome. Not the best thing for the waistline... During lent, you can go to any Ukrainian Church here and buy fresh-made pyrohi made by the babushka ladies. Sometimes a fish sandwich is too much.
Sour cream is the usual flavour adjuster.