Pierogies

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

Directions:

• 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.

Filling Ideas: Potatoes, fresh fennel plus fennel seeds and some fresh farmer's cheese with plenty of pepper was my favorite filling so far. I also made some with my live kraut which were quite good. There are also sweet, fruit filled pierogies. Go nuts.

XO, Debbie

Raviolis

Homemade raviolis are a favorite around these parts but two deviations from the regular recipe made tonight's the best yet. One was using the ricotta we made the other day (see labels: cheese making. It's easy!). No seasonings or other additions were necessary. That cheese stands on it's own. The other change was in what I used to cut the ravioli. I usually use a mold for this, but this time I simply laid my sheet of dough down, plopped some spoonfuls of cheese on, folded the other end of the sheet over it, then cut them using a jar lid. This seemed to seal the edges better and there was no pesty dough sticking to the mold. For those I know who swear that we live with more stuff than we need, you win this one. But I'm keeping the ice cream maker.

Raviolis!

Equipment: stock pot, rolling pin, jar lid, pasta roller (stainless steel, atlas type)


Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• water for boiling  
• cheese filling of your choice. I used homemade ricotta. In the past I've done ricotta and romano or feta and have added many herbs and even nuts. Go crazy.
• Your favorite sauce recipe
• Parmesan or romano

How to:

• Begin by heating your water on the stove. You want your water to come to a nice rolling boil.
• On cutting board, clean counter or in bowl, make mound with 1-3/4 cups of your flour. Use your fingers to dig an impression on top of mound (looks like a volcano).
• Put the oil, sea salt and cracked eggs in the depression.
• Mix well using your hands, then knead on cutting board or counter. If it seems too dry, add water, a teaspoonful at a time until you have a nice consistency. 
• Use remainder of flour to flour your work surface. Cut dough in half and roll out one half to an oblong shape. Set other half aside with a damp cloth covering it.
• Run through pasta roller Beginning on setting 2 and working to 5. 
• Remove from pasta maker and re-knead. I find this step critical, mostly for my sanity, as the workability of it is drastically improved by this.
• Roll again into an oblong shape and put through pasta maker a second time, this time beginning with 2 and ending with 6. Don't be tempted to go thinner. Your cheese will escape!
• You should now have one very long sheet of pasta, about five inches wide. Lay it out on your floured work surface. Plop down your cheese by the spoonful every 2-3 inches (Just eye it with this. The size of your jar lid determines the size of your raviolis and you only want the cheese in the center, with room at the edges for pinching). Now fold other half of sheet over, use jar lid to cut, fingers to pinch edges. Set aside as you go. You may want to sprinkle a bit of flour on them to keep from sticking together.
• Repeat rolling cutting and stuffing steps with the other half of your dough.
• Boil your raviolis at a rolling boil until they are all doing flips. You can take one out to try, but it's usually about ten minutes. Don't overcook, there is some carryover cooking.
• Strain and dump out water and add raviolis back to pot along with sauce, heat and serve with a sprinkling of parmesan or romano.

                                 
                                           The finished product

Enjoy!

XO, Debbie