by Jola Piesakowska

Make a batch of pierogi dough.

Make a batch of Polish chicken consomme but uses beef brisket and lamb bones instead of chicken bones.

• Large shallot minced and fired until golden and clear.
• Mix with 500g Fatty lamb or mutton neck finely minced
• 1 Tbsp Dried marjoram or double that amount for fresh marjoram
• 2 tbsp liquid bullion adjust to get a light, soft, smooth texture
• Salt and pepper
• Allow to cool

Roll out the pierogi dough so that it is very thin, cut in 5cm circles. Spoon a small amount of meat paste and fold each small pierogi to resemble the shape of a small Italian tortellini. When you have used up all of the dough and meat paste drop each of the kolduny into the boiling soup for 4 minutes until they float to the top. Serve.

This is typical food from the area of pre-War Poland my Tata was from, it is just like a typical Polish pork meat pierogi but what makes it distinctive is that it uses mutton and marjoram herbs in the filling, and the soup base is a consommé based on beef and mutton. After WW2 under the post war agreement, Eastern Poland was annexed by USSR. The Poles living in this area were displaced mainly to two former German areas, Gdansk and Wroclaw. If you go to either of these cities you will see Kolduny on the restaurant menus.

Now you know!