Pierogies Ole Recipes

PIEROGI (TRADITIONAL POLISH DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• Pass farmer's cheese and cooked potatoes separately through a food grinder or food processor.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook mushrooms and onions until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Combine farmer's cheese, potatoes, mushroom mixture, sour cream, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Mix together and set filling aside.
• Place flour on a clean work surface and make a well in the center. Crack both eggs into the well. Add butter and a few tablespoons of the warm water. Mix with your hands, gradually adding more warm water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as you go. Knead well, continuing to add more water as needed. Knead until dough is soft and smooth, adding more flour to the work surface as needed.
• Cut off 1/4 of the dough and roll out to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut out circles using a glass or a round pastry cutter, saving the excess dough for your next batch.
• Fill each dough circle with 1 teaspoon of filling. Fold dough over into a half-moon shape and pinch edges together to seal. Cover with a clean dish towel so pierogi won't dry out and repeat with remaining dough and filling.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Add the pierogi in batches, about 20 at a time, and cook until they float to the surface, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain in a strainer. Repeat with the remaining pierogi.

HOMEMADE SAUERKRAUT PIEROGIES / PEROGIES - OLD FASHIONED RECIPE

Steps:

• Sauerkraut Filling: Rinse the sauerkraut well in warm water, squeeze dry, and chop very fine.
• Cook the onion in the fat or shortening until tender.
• Add the sauerkraut and cream.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Cook over low heat for 15 minutes or until sauerkraut is tender and the flavors blend.
• Do not over cook.
• Chill thoroughly.
• Mix the flour with the salt in a deep bowl.
• Add the egg, oil and water to make a medium soft dough.
• Knead on a floured board until the dough is smooth.
• Caution: Too much kneading will toughen the dough.
• Divide the dough into 2 parts.
• Cover and let stand for at least 10 minutes.
• Prepare the filling.
• The filling should be thick enough to hold its shape.
• Roll the dough quite thin on a floured board.
• Cut rounds with a large biscuit cutter, or as most old-world grandmothers did, with the open end of a glass.
• Put the round in the palm of your hand.
• Place a spoonful of filling in it, fold over to form a half circle and press the edges together with the fingers.
• The edges should be free of filling.
• Be sure the edges are sealed well to prevent the filling from running out.
• Place the pierogi on a floured board or tea towel and then cover with another tea towel to prevent them from drying out.
• COOKING: Drop a few pierogies into a large quantity of rapidly boiling salted water.
• Do not attempt to cook too many at a time.
• Stir VERY gently with a wooden spoon to separate them and to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
• Continue boiling for 3-4 minutes.
• The cooling period will depend upon the size you made it, the thickness of the dough and the filling.
• Pierogies will be ready when they are puffed.
• Remove them with a perforated spoon or skimmer to a colander and drain thoroughly.
• Place in a deep dish, sprinkle generously with melted butter to prevent them from sticking.
• Cover and keep them hot until all are cooked.
• Serve in a large dish without piling or crowding them.
• Top with melted butter- chopped crisp bacon and/or chopped onions lightly browned in butter.
• REHEATING: One of the great things about pierogies, is that they can be made in large quantities, refrigerated, frozen and reheated without lost of quality.
• Many prefer reheated pierogies as compared to freshly boiled ones.
• To re-heat, you can 1) pan fry pierogies in butter or bacon fat until they are light in color or 2) heat the pierogies in the top of a double boiler or in the oven until they are hot and plump or 3) deep fry them.

PIEROGIES

Steps:

• Place the sour cream in a large bowl, and mix in flour to make a dough. Roll the dough out on a floured surface about 1/16 inch thick, and cut rounds about 3 1/2 inches across using a cookie cutter or a glass. Re-roll the unused dough to make more rounds, up to 4 times -- after that, it gets hard to work with.
• Place about 1 teaspoon of mashed potatoes in the center of each dough round, fold over into a half-moon shape, and press and seal the edges with a fork. Set the filled pierogies aside under a towel to prevent drying.
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat, and cook and stir the onions until translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the cooked onions and set aside, leaving butter in the skillet.
• Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, and carefully drop a few filled pierogies at a time into the boiling water. After they float to the surface, allow them to gently boil for about 4 minutes.
• Re-heat the butter in the skillet over medium heat. Gently scoop the pierogies out of the water (they break easily) and place them in the skillet to brown on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Place the fried pierogies on a buttered baking sheet, sprinkle them with the cooked onions, and keep warm in the oven on low setting until served.

OLD FASHIONED PIEROGIES

Steps:

• Add flour to a mixer and make a well. Add the two eggs to the well with 1/2 cup of water. Mix all ingredients until the mixture is smooth. Add more water or flour so that the dough isn't too sticky or runny. Flour a large cutting board, pastry slab, or the counter, like I do. Roll the dough out to about 1/8 of an inch. Cut circle out with the top of a glass or ramekin. Fill the circle with 1 teaspoon of mashed potatoes, then fold the dough circle in half, sealing in the potatoes by running your finger with some water on it, around half the circle. Pinch closed. Set aside until you have made all you want to. Boil a pot of salted water, then cook the pierogies. They will float when they are done. Butter them as soon as they are taken out so that they don't stick to each other!

HOMEMADE COTTAGE CHEESE PIEROGIES / PEROGIES - THE OLD FASHIONED

Steps:

• Cottage Cheese Filling: Combine the cottage cheese with the egg and season to taste with the salt.
• If the cheese is very dry, an additional egg (or egg yolk) or thick sour cream can be added.
• Mix the flour with the salt in a deep bowl.
• Add the egg, oil and water to make a medium soft dough.
• Knead on a floured board until the dough is smooth.
• Caution: Too much kneading will toughen the dough.
• Divide the dough into 2 parts.
• Cover and let stand for at least 10 minutes.
• Prepare the filling.
• The filling should be thick enough to hold its shape.
• Roll the dough quite thin on a floured board.
• Cut rounds with a large biscuit cutter, or as most old-world grandmothers did, with the open end of a glass.
• Put the round in the palm ofyour hand.
• Place a spoonful of filling in it, fold over to form a half circle and press the edges together with the fingers.
• The edges should be free of filling.
• Be sure the edges are sealed well to prevent the filling from running out.
• Place the pierogi on a floured board or tea towel and then cover with another tea towel to prevent them from drying out.
• COOKING: Drop a few pierogies into a large quantity of rapidly boiling salted water.
• Do not attempt to cook too many at a time.
• Stir VERY gently with a wooden spoon to separate them and to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
• Continue boiling for 3-4 minutes.
• The cooling period will depend upon the size you made it, the thickness of the dough and the filling.
• Pierogies will be ready when they are puffed.
• Remove them with a perforated spoon or skimmer to a colander and drain thoroughly.
• Place in a deep dish, sprinkle generously with melted butter to prevent them from sticking.
• Cover and keep them hot until all are cooked.
• Serve in a large dish without piling or crowding them.
• Top with melted butter- chopped crisp bacon and/or chopped onions lightly browned in butter.
• REHEATING: One of the great things about pierogies, is that they can be made in large quantities, refrigerated, frozen and reheated without loss of quality.
• Many prefer reheated pierogies as compared to freshly boiled ones.
• To re-heat, you can 1) pan fry pierogies in butter or bacon fat until they are light in color or 2) heat the pierogies in the top of a double boiler or in the oven until they are hot and plump or 3) deep fry them.

HOMEMADE PIEROGI

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine flour and salt; cover and pulse to blend. Add water, eggs and butter; cover and pulse until dough forms a ball, adding an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed. Let rest, covered, 15 to 30 minutes., Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until tender, 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute onions in butter until tender; set aside., Drain potatoes. Over very low heat, stir potatoes until steam has evaporated, 1-2 minutes. Press through a potato ricer or strainer into a large bowl. Stir in cream cheese, salt, pepper and onion mixture; set aside., Divide dough into 4 parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1 portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness; cut with a floured 3-in. biscuit cutter. Place 2 teaspoons of filling in center of each circle. Moisten edges with water; fold in half and press edges to seal. Repeat with remaining dough and filling., Bring a Dutch oven of water to a boil over high heat; add pierogi in batches. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer; cook until pierogi float to the top and are tender, 1-2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. In a large skillet, saute 4 pierogi and onion in butter until pierogi are lightly browned and heated through; sprinkle with parsley. Repeat with remaining pierogi. Freeze option: Place cooled pierogi on waxed paper-lined 15x10x1-in. baking pans; freeze until firm. Transfer to an airtight freezer container; freeze up to 3 months. To use, for each serving, in a large skillet, saute 4 pierogi and 1/4 cup chopped onion in 1 tablespoon butter until pierogi are lightly browned and heated through; sprinkle with minced fresh parsley.

PIEROGIES OLE!

Steps:

• Thaw pierogies in boiling water 5 minutes, drain and keep warm.
• In the meantime, combine chili and salsa in a skillet.
• Cook over medium high heat until hot and bubbly, about 4 minutes.
• Reduce heat to medium, add corn and cook 6 minutes.
• Pour chili mix over pierogies and top with cheese.