Pierogi Lasagne

The cookbook shoot is almost done and I’ve developed a sudden, deep interest in doing “just one more” recipe. I kept finding small, polite reasons to push the last few recipes back. Overthinking the garnish. Holding off on a Boxing Day cutlery order to arrive. Mercury was in… something. Really, I just didn’t want to wake up and find that this quiet little hum in my life had disappeared.

It’s been five months of building tiny food worlds, solving strange visual problems, eating cold leftovers at 10am and feeling that very specific tunnel‑vision that only shows up when you’re deep inside something you care about. And then, somewhere between my third coffee and my fourth attempt to justify one more shoot day, it clicked: finishing the book doesn’t mean finishing this part of me. I don’t have to pack away the experiments and the half‑formed ideas and the “what if I just tried this?” energy like spare props in a cupboard. I can just keep going. In public. On the internet. Like it’s 2013.

Which is how I ended up thinking about my old blog, The Hungry Babushka.

Back then, it was where all the strange recipes went. The ones that didn’t fit anywhere else. The combinations that sounded wrong until they weren’t. It was messy and personal and not especially strategic, which at the time felt like a flaw, but now feels like the whole point.

Somewhere along the line, between building a commercial studio, being very profesh and cooking to briefs instead of instincts, I drifted away from that version of myself. Not dramatically. Just gradually. Fewer odd experiments, more sensible decisions. Less “what happens if I do this?” and more “what does the client need?”.

This recipe is me quietly wandering back.

At the risk of sounding like I’m about to break into a musical - it started in the freezer, which is a very good place to start. Alongside three un-touched tubs of protein ice cream and one unidentified sauce circa 2024. I was digging around for something vaguely responsible for dinner and found a few frozen zip‑lock bags of bolognese that past-me had flattened into neat little red, geological layers.

Then I noticed a container of pierogi leftover from Christmas. There was a pause. A small internal committee meeting. And then a very loud YES.

Pierogi lasagne.

If lasagne moved East and popped on a pair of trackies - potato dumplings in lieu of pasta sheets. Beefy sauce. Creamy layers. Something Polish, something Italian, something that technically shouldn’t exist but absolutely does and it felt like exactly the kind of recipe I used to make for the blog.

When it came out of the oven, bubbling and unreasonably confident, I stood there having a genuine debate about the garnish. Dill felt right because pierogi. Basil felt right because lasagne. I briefly considered choosing one, remembered I’m an adult, and put on both.

This is what I want this space to be again. Recipes that borrow from everywhere. Ideas that arrive while you’re ankle‑deep in frozen food. Food that doesn’t always behave, but always works out.

If the cookbook is the polished version of all of this, then this blog is the slightly messier, more talkative cousin. The part that keeps cooking after the last page is designed.

Welcome back to The Hungry Babushka.

Pierogi Lasagne

Serves 6

300g grated cheese (I like a pizza blend - think parmesan, tasty and mozzarella)
Dill, to serve
Basil leaves, to serve
Sour cream (absolutely non-negotiable)

BOLOGNESE
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
500g beef mince
250g pork mince
600g tinned, chopped tomatoes
170g tomato paste
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

PIEROGI
5 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
40g grated cheese
Sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
1 large egg
1 tbsp sour cream
150ml full cream milk, warmed
375g plain flour

BECHAMEL
50g unsalted butter
50g plain flour
500ml warm milk
100g grated cheddar
Sea salt
White pepper

Start by making the bolognese. Heat oil in a large saucepan (or deep frypan) over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft then remove half the onion and reserve for the pierogi filling. Add garlic and stir over heat for another minute. Add the beef and pork mince, stirring to break up any lumps. Fry until browned, then season generously. Add tin tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, a bit more salt and pepper and 750ml water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for at least 2 hours, or as long as you like really. The longer the tastier. While it’s cooking get your pierogi on.

To make the pierogi filling pop potato pieces into a saucepan, cover with cold water, a little salt and bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are soft. Drain, mash and stir with the reserved fried onion (from bolognese) and cheese. Stir to combine, season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.

Make the dough by whisking together egg, sour cream and milk. Add the flour and mix to form a dough (I use a KitchenAid here, but you can do this by hand too. If you do go the mixer route please go easy, you just want to mix on low until the dough comes together, then turn out onto a clean bench and finish by hand). Once you have a cohesive dough, roll out onto a clean, floured work surface. You want the thickness to be about that of a lasagne sheet. Use a 7cm round cookie cutter (otherwise known as a thin-lipped crystal glass in our house) and cut 30 circles from the dough (you might have a bit of dough leftover, that’s cool, make some slavic fortune cookies or something, I dunno). Scoop 1.5 tablespoon sized portions of the potato mixture, plop into the centre of each dough round then, with the muscle memory of a 101-year-old Bubcha who’s been doing this since before electricity, fold, pinch and seal the edges closed. Try really hard to not get potato in the seal, this only ends badly.

Boil the pierogi, 5 at a time, in salted water. You want the water to be somewhere between a simmer and boil. Stir them gently at first so they don’t sink and stick to the bottom, but you’ll know they’re ready when they float to the top and the dough looks cooked (about 5 mins). Scoop out and place onto a tray lined with baking paper. Repeat until you have cooked them all.

To make the bechamel, heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, add flour and cook, stirring often, until toasty. Slowly add the milk, whisking as you go, until incorporated. Once all the milk has been added, simmer for 2-3 mins to thicken, then remove from heat and stir in cheese. Season here too.

Time to assemble! Preheat conventional oven to 180ºC. Vessel wise, anything goes as long as it’s oven safe and big enough. I use a 30cm round cast iron casserole pan, but you do you. Spoon a bit of the bolognese on the base. Top with one row of boiled pierogi, overlapping slightly so that there is minimal gaps. Spoon over a generous amount of bolognese and then half the bechamel. Repeat pierogi layer, top with remaining bechamel. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 45 mins. Crank up the oven to 200ºC and finish it off for another 10 mins or until golden and crispy on top. Stand at room temperature for half an hour before digging in.

Best served with dill, basil and ungoldly amounts of sour cream.

B