Pierogies
We love pierogies! Unfortunately, living here in the deep south there is no place that has them made fresh like we used to be able to get in NYC. Hence I taught myself how to make them years ago. When I first bought a dish of them to hubbys job no one would dare to try one, then slowly they did and soon they became addicted to them, they often asked him to get me to make them a bunch and for a little while I did, then it got to be overwhelming, there were only about 6 guys working there but between them they could put away a good 150 of them as a snack alone. Now I just make them for family here. One of those guys that hubby used to work with saw some in the frozen food case at the supermarket and was all excited about them, he was soon disappointed when he tried them, they are no comparison to a fresh made one for sure. They do take me the better part of a day to make a batch but it is soooo worth it, I make a large batch and then freeze them in meal sized portions, if you are going to go to the trouble of making them I would suggest you do the same. We like two of the typical fillings although you can fill the dough pockets with just about anything you like as long as it is not too wet. Our favorites are stuffed with potato, cheese and carmelized onions and the other is dried mushrooms and saurkraut. Hubby likes his with lots of carmelized onions on the side and I like mine with sour cream, other people like theirs with apple sauce or in the case of pierogi stuffed with a sweet cheese filling they like them with a fruit preserve on the side, in any case roll up your sleeves and make a large batch of them and enjoy!
Pierogi Dough
5 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs scrambled together
1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk (add a little if dough is dry)
Add the dry ingredients to a large food processor bowl and pulse to combine, add the wet ingredients and pulse until you have a dough that comes together. Remove from bowl and form into a large disc, wrap in plastic and let rest for at least 30 minutes. Place flour onto the counter and cut dough into 4 pieces, cover 3 of them with the pastic and place the fourth in the flour on counter to coat it. Roll the dough out as thin as you can and cut circles 3-4 inches, stuff with the filling of your choice and then seal edges tightly, set aside on sheet pan sprinkled with flour, don’t crowd them. Continue until you have rolled and filled all the dough. To serve you can boil them in a large pot of water until they rise and serve or after they rise remove them from the water and place in a saute pan that has some carmelized onion and butter in it, cook and toss them until they begin to brown and then serve them. Freeze the uncooked ones on a flat sheet pan and then place in zip top freezer bags, do not defrost before you put them into the boiling water.
Potato, Cheese, Onion Pierogi Filling
2 very large russet potatoes, steamed then peeled and put thru ricer
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese grated
1 cup diced onions, carmelized in 2 tablespoon butter, then cooled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
Mix all together and use to fill pierogi dough, seal edges well and crimp with a fork.
Mushroom Saurkraut Pierogi Filling
1 pound bag saurkraut, drained very well
1/2 ounce package dried mushrooms, reconstituted in 1 cup boiling water
remove from water when softened and drain well
1 teaspoon Maggi Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Drain saurkraut very well, then chop in food processor, add mushroom and chop again until the mixture is finely chopped, place in bowl and add Maggi and pepper, mix all together well then place in a saute pan over low heat to help dry out the mixture, remove from heat when it is dry, allow to cool and use to stuff pierogi, seal well and crimp edges with fork. It is very important that you make sure the filling is dry or the dough will fall apart and not seal well.
I have used all sorts of things to fill pierogi, such as leftover pot roast and all kinds of vegetable mixtures, they are not conventional but are still very tasty and we enjoy them.