Bacon and Pierogi Soup

Bacon and Pierogi Soup starts with crispy, fried bacon being tossed with fragrant rosemary. Next, aromatic vegetables like carrots, onions, and celery are added to the pot with garlic and thyme. Frozen pierogies are added and cooked in a thick soup with shredded cheese. Ladle up a big bowl and top it with that rosemary-infused bacon, sour cream, and more cheese. This soup recipe is certainly a keeper!

It’s my favourite time of the year – almost! Christmas is my favourite time of the year, but soup season is a very close second!  I love when the weather turns cold and the days get shorter.  I get overly excited about piping hot soups, like this Bacon and Pierogi Soup, and I love to wear socks and slippers around the house all day long.

That January and February weather; the cold and the frost, paired with the snow and ice – oh, I love it! Not only do I get to wear fleecy socks and sweaters, but I also get to layer the bed with extra blankets! And, I get to sip hot coffee while watching TV in the late evening, and I get to prepare and eat more soups.  There’s a whole list of things I love about colder weather, especially being able to crochet with yarns instead of threads.  (Crocheters will know what I’m talking about!) 

So, in addition to the socks, sweaters, shorter days, etc., the comfort of home-cooked soups and stews greatly appeals to me.  (This post is starting to sound like that song in The Sound of Music… what’s it called?  My Favourite Things?) A great dinnertime option, I would wager any time of the year, but more so during the cooler months, is my Bacon and Pierogi Soup.  This soup is dense and has such a rich flavour, and the broth is thick and seasoned just perfectly.  Let’s dig in!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Bacon – I’m using thick-cut bacon because I like the texture of it better when it’s fried. Regular-cut bacon is fine too.
• Rosemary – I urge you to use fresh rosemary here because the flavour is very different from dried rosemary. With that said, you can use dried rosemary just be sure to mince it very finely.
• Olive Oil
• Butter
• Onion – I use yellow, white, and sweet onions interchangeably.  Either of them will do just fine.
• Carrots 
• Celery – I know many people who don’t care for celery in soup, but the flavour is needed here. If you prefer, add big chunks of celery and remove them before serving.
• Garlic – Use fresh garlic whenever possible. Even the pre-minced stuff in the jars is better than garlic powder or granulated garlic in this recipe.

• Seasonings – Salt, ground black pepper, and fresh thyme leaves.
• Flour – All-purpose flour is used here.
• Vegetable Stock – If you are using store-bought, use low sodium. Some of them can be overly salty!
• Milk – I always use whole milk.
• Kale – When cooking kale, I often use frozen, chopped kale and save the fresh stuff for salads. You can use either here.
• Pierogies – Use store-bought, frozen pierogies to make it easy.
• Cheese – A sharp shredded cheddar is great, but feel free to experiment with other flavours.
• Sour Cream – For serving and garnish.
• Green Onions – For flavour and garnish.
• Parsley – For freshness, colour, and garnish.

THE HOLY TRINITY OF A GOOD SOUP

Have you ever heard of a mirepoix? Sometimes, it’s referred to as the Holy Trinity of cooking. It is a flavour base made from diced vegetables cooked in some type of fat, usually, butter or oil. The veggies are sometimes cooked for a long period of time on very low heat. The goal is not to brown the veggies. Other times, they are cooked on a higher heat to bring out the natural sweetness. This is usually the case in soups.

A mirepoix is most often found combined with tomatoes or tomato paste. This creates a darker, brown mixture called a pincage. It is a long-standing cooking technique in French cuisine. Mirepoix is widely used to flavour a variety of Western dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces.

In Italian cuisine, the onions, carrots and celery are chopped to form a battuto. It is slowly cooked in butter or olive oil, becoming soffritto. It is used as the base for most pasta sauces, such as ragu, but occasionally it can be used as the base of other dishes, such as sautéed vegetables. Most of the time, the Italian version will also include garlic, shallots, or even leeks.

HOW TO MAKE BACON AND PIEROGI SOUP

In a heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon until well done and slightly crisp. Transfer the bacon to a bowl, straining away the grease. Add the chopped fresh rosemary to the bowl and toss with the still-warm bacon. Set aside. Drain all of the bacon grease out of the pot but do not wipe the pot clean. Leave any stuck bacon bits in the pot too.

Add the olive oil, butter, onions, carrots, and celery to the pot. Over medium heat, stir and cook the vegetables for 5-7 minutes. Add the salt, ground black pepper, minced garlic, and fresh thyme leaves. Stir well and cook for 3 minutes. Next, stir in the flour until well absorbed. Once no trace of the flour remains, continue to cook the flour with the onions and garlic mixture for 3 minutes. Pour in the vegetable broth half a cup at a time, whisking it well into the flour mixture after each addition. Next, pour in the milk half a cup at a time, continuing to whisk well after each addition. Continue to cook for 3-5 minutes until the sauce mixture thickens.

Add the frozen pierogies and the frozen chopped kale to the pot. Stir well to incorporate and cook until the soup returns to a simmer. Stir often to prevent the pierogies from settling and sticking to the bottom of the pot. Once the soup comes back to a low simmer, continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Finally, add the shredded cheese. Stir to combine and cook just until the cheese is melted. Plate the soup and top with the rosemary-infused bacon crumbles. Additional optional toppings include a drizzle of sour cream, more shredded cheese, and a sprig of fresh rosemary.

WHAT ARE PIEROGIES?

Pierogies are filled dumplings, made by wrapping unleavened dough around a filling, and occasionally flavoured with a savoury or sweet garnish and cooked in boiling water. Pierogies and their other varieties are associated with the cuisines of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Dumplings most likely originated in Asia and came to Europe via trade in the Middle Ages.

The widely used English name pierogi was derived from Poland. In East Europe and parts of Canada, they are known as varenyky, or in some dialects, pyrohy. Pierogies are also popular in modern-day American cuisine. Typical fillings include potato, cheese, sauerkraut, ground meat, mushrooms, etc. Savoury pierogi are often served with a topping of sour cream, fried onions, or both.

You can prepare your pierogies at home, but in my case, I’ll leave that to the professionals, like my friend, Vera, who is Ukrainian. It’s much easier to buy them from your local grocery store. They can be found in the frozen food section and come with different fillings as I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Since this soup has bacon and cheese, I kept with that and used cheese and potato-filled pierogies.

LEFTOVERS AND/OR FREEZING

This recipe does make about six hearty servings, which might be too much or too little, depending on the size of your family. The recipe can easily be halved or even doubled. Just be sure to use a really big soup pot if you’re doubling this recipe! Once everyone has had their fill, you might have some leftovers. If so, you can transfer the cooled soup to a food-safe container and store it in the fridge. It will keep for at least 2 days. Otherwise, you can freeze it and it will last for 3 months.

If you do refrigerate or freeze the leftovers, you may need to add a bit of water to the soup when reheating. Start with just a few tablespoons of water at a time to avoid turning the soup into a broth! Of course, if you add more water, you will need to re-season as well.