I pleasantly happened upon the Portland Polish Festival this morning while doing the soccer game rounds, so it seemed the perfect day to post a pierogi recipe.
But first...
A little story:
When Eden (my oldest son) was three, he started saving up his coins for a remote control flip-over car he had his eye on. Nightly, he would go in his room, pour all of his money out on the floor and begin counting, even mastering denominations of coins. Then, he'd walk into the living room, proudly announce his total and his Dad or I would respond with "Look, here's three/five/seven more pennies!". He would then return to his room and start counting over again while we struggled to conceal our laughter. He's in high school now and is quite the number cruncher. I think the skills gained during that period of time will serve him well, once the psychological trauma wears off.
Back to Pierogies:
I'm lucky enough to live just a short walk from a Ukranian Orthodox church which serves up these little pockets of pleasure every Sunday. But I often crave them on Not a Sunday, so I've been trying to make them at home. Several times I tried and several times came up with something too dry, something too thick, something too fragile.
Back to the story for a moment:
My point in posting it is this: Eden never had to start counting over again. He knew full well how to add. And so do I. -A recipe isn't set in stone, and while I started making pierogies following other people's recipes, the recipe I ended up with was very much my own. And that one worked. - Don't be afraid to play with the amounts, the temperature, etc... when you're cooking. And consider the variables. My oven may run a little hotter than your oven. You might be rolling your dough in August in New York while I am rolling mine in December in New England. The recipe might not be wrong under some conditions, but I might have to amend it for mine. Add a little of this, take away some of that. Amend, don't start over. My sour creamtastrophy just needed a bit more buttermilk. My feta making fiasco? Made for a fantastic feta dressing. The pierogies: perfect (now.).
Pierogies
Equipment: large stock pot, large mixing bowl, strainer spoon or strainer, 3" round biscuit cutter or drinking glass or jar with about a 3" diameter and a thin rim, rolling pin, pasta machine (optional)
Ingredients:
- 2 to 2-1/2 c. unbleached flour
- 1/3 c. sour cream
- 3/4 stick of cold butter, cubed
- 1/4 c. whole milk
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tsp. salt
- In large mixing bowl, combine 2 of the cups of flour and the salt.
- Add butter, sour cream and milk and incorporate using your hands, squeezing and kneading until combined.
- Transfer to floured board and knead until a good consistency, not sticky and very smooth is reached, adding more of your flour if needed.
- Form round and let sit 20 minutes.
- Knead again a few times and then roll out dough to about 1/10 in. thick, about the thickness of ravioli dough.
- Cut rounds using your cutter or drinking glass and roll the rounds again at this stage if you feel they aren't thin enough. You can also run them through a pasta machine on 4, then 5 to get the right thickness.
- Put a small amount of filling (about a teaspoon) in the center of your round holding it in the palm of your hand and fold the sides in like a taco. Then pinch your dough ends together beginning with the center and working out toward the ends, pinching about a half an inch of dough between your fingers, forming a crescent shape. You can additionally seal the edges with a fork, but I found the seal to be equally good without this step. *Some filling ideas are listed below.
- Boil pierogies for about five minutes, stirring occasionally, then strain. I like to use my strainer spoon for this as it's less likely I'll break them.
- These are typically then fried up with some butter and onions and served with sour cream.
XO, Debbie
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