From: Marni Tuttle Reply-To: Marni Tuttle Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes Followup-To: rec.food.cooking Subject: Pierogies Date: 17 May 1995 05:32:12 -0600 Organization: ug.cs.dal.ca Message-ID: <95May15.091501adt.266@ug.cs.dal.ca> These and other recipes available at http://ug.cs.dal.ca/~tuttle/tuttle.html and follow the recipe link. PIEROGI 2 eggs 1/2 cup water 2 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt Mound flour on kneading board and make hole in center. Drop eggs into hole and cut into flour with a knife. Add salt and water and knead until firm. Let rest for 10 minutes covered with a warm bowl. Divide dough in halves and roll thin. Cut circles with a large biscuit cutter. Place a small mound of filling a little to one side on each round of dough. Moisten edge with a little water, fold over and press edges firmly together. Be sure they are well sealed to prevent the filling from running out. Drop the pierogi into salted boiling water. Cook gently for for 3 to 5 minutes. Lift out of water carefully with a perforated spoon. The dough has a tendency to dry while you are working. A dry dough will not seal completely. We suggest rolling out a large circle of dough, placing small mounds of filling far enough apart to allow for cutting, and folding the dough over the mounds of filling. Then cut with a small biscuit cutter and seal firmly. Never crowd or pile pierogi. The uncooked will stick and the cooked will lose shape and lightness. Note: Pierogi can be frozen after boiling and they keep well. I perfer all my pierogi fried in butter and onions and seasoned with salt and pepper. They should be fried on a medium low heat till golden brown. VARIETIES OF FILLING Cheese 1 cup cottage cheese 1 tsp. melted butter 1 egg beaten 3 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp currants 1/4 tsp cinnamon cream cheese with melted butter. Add other ingredients and mix well. Fill pierogi. Serve with melted butter and sour cream. Cheese 1 cup dry cottage cheese dash of salt 1 tsp. lemon 1 tbsp sugar 1 egg 1 egg yolk Mix ingredients thoroughly. Fill pierogi. Cabbage and Mushrooms 1 small head cabbage 2 cups mushrooms 2 tbsp sour cream 1 small onion, chopped fine butter salt and pepper Quarter cabbage and cook in salted water for 15 minutes. Drain, cool and chop fine. Saute onion in butter, add chopped mushrooms and fry 5 minutes. Add chopped cabbage and continue to fry until flavors blend. Add sour cream and cool. Fill pierogi. Sauerkraut Two cups sauerkraut may be substituted for the cabbage. Rinse and chop sauerkraut. Proceed as above. Mushrooms 1 cup chopped mushrooms 1 onion chopped fine salt and pepper 2 egg yolks butter Saute onion in butter. Add mushrooms. Season. Remove from fire, add egg yolks and stir well. Cool and fill pierogi. Serve with chopped onion browned in butter. Mushrooms and meat 1/2 cup cooked beef 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms 1 onion chopped fine butter salt and pepper 2 tbsp sour cream Run cooked meat through meat grinder. Fry onion in butter until transparent, add mushrooms and meat. Season to taste. Add sour cream and cool before using. Prunes 1 cup cooked prunes 1 tsp lemon juice 1 tsp sugar Soak prunes overnight. Cook with sugar and lemon juice. When cool, remove stones and fill pierogi. Serve with bread crumbs browned in butter. PIEROGI Pierog Dough: 3 c. flour 2 eggs 1 t. salt enough water to make a pliable dough Mix ingredients well and knead until smooth. Roll out to 1/16" thick (in batches of say, 1/4 of the dough at a time) and cut 3"-4" diameter circles. Place filling on half of each circle and fold over other half and pinch shut to form semicircular shaped dumplings. (P.S. First moisten edges of dough with water before pinching shut for a better seal.) Drop dumplings about 5 at a time in rapidly boiling salted water in a large kettle. After dumplings rise to the surface cook for 5 minutes. Scoop out with slotted spoon and drain well. Meanwhile have a pot of melted butter with chopped onions cooking in it. Place drained pierogi in serving bowl or storage container and pour a little butter and onions over each layer to keep from sticking together. Eat immediately with sour cream as a topping, if desired, or if you want to save some for later, you can reheat them by sauteeing them in a skillet with the butter and onions until the dough is crispy, golden brown. I prefer them this way and hardly ever eat them freshly boiled. Fillings: I don't use actual recipes. My favorite filling is potato/cheese. I just make some mashed potatoes and add butter, salt, pepper, and grated cheddar cheese to taste. You can use whatever you usually use to flavor sauerkraut to make the sauerkraut filling. For cottage cheese I just add an egg yolk or two to a container of cottage cheese and season with salt and pepper. Sweet cabbage should be sauteed in butter (finely shredded first) until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Marni Tuttle | tuttle@ug.cs.dal.ca | '95/96 President of DSCSS | Dal Grad '96 Hire Students! http://www.ug.cs.dal.ca/~tuttle/jobbank.html ~~~ Rec.food.recipes is moderated; only recipes and recipe requests are accepted for posting. Please read the "Posting Guidelines" article first. Submissions go to recipes@rt66.com; questions/comments go to tfdpress@acpub.duke.edu. Please allow several days for your submission to appear.