Bryndzové Halušky

Ingredients

• 900 g floury potatoes, peeled
• 250 g plain flour, plus a little extra
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp salt, plus more for the water
• 300 g bryndza, or 200 g sheep's milk feta blended with 100 g cream cheese
• 100 g soured cream
• 30 g unsalted butter
• 250 g smoked streaky bacon, cut into 1 cm lardons
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced, to serve
• Black pepper, to taste

Before you cook

• Peel the potatoes and grate them on the fine side of a box grater into a bowl.
• Tip the grated potato into a clean tea towel over the sink and wring out as much liquid as you can, then return the dry pulp to the bowl.
• Mash the bryndza with the soured cream and the butter until smooth and spoonable.
• Cut the bacon into lardons and slice the spring onions.

Steps

1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil.
2. Beat the egg and 1 teaspoon of salt into the grated potato.
3. Work in the flour a handful at a time until you have a thick, sticky batter that just falls from a spoon rather than pouring.
4. Set the bryndza mixture in a heatproof bowl over the pot so it softens in the steam while you work.
5. Push the batter through a halušky maker or the large holes of a colander straight into the boiling water, working in two batches so the pot is not crowded.
6. Boil each batch for 3 minutes from the moment the dumplings bob to the surface.
7. Scoop the dumplings out with a slotted spoon, letting them drain, and tip them into a large warm serving bowl.
8. Repeat with the rest of the batter, then reserve a mugful of the cooking water and drain the pot.
9. Put the bacon lardons in a cold frying pan and set it over medium heat.
10. Fry the bacon for 8 minutes, stirring, until the fat has rendered and the pieces are crisp and brown.
11. Spoon the softened bryndza mixture over the hot dumplings and fold everything together.
12. Loosen the sauce with a splash of the reserved cooking water until it clings to every dumpling.
13. Pour the bacon and all its hot fat over the top without stirring it in.
14. Scatter over the spring onions and a good grind of black pepper, then take the bowl straight to the table.