Pierogi

Pierogi 

Sausage Cheese and Potato Filling:

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 2 Spicy Italian Sausages (or a flavor of your choice, sun dried tomato is also quite yummy)
• About 1/2-3/4 Cup Shredded Cheddar
• 2-3 Green onion stalks, sliced

Instructions:

1. Cook the sausage and break it up or throw it in your food processor and pulse a couple times. 
2. In a bowl combine the mashed potatoes, broken up sausage, cheese and green onions. 
3. Mix well and set aside in the fridge until your dough is ready.

Pierogi Dough

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 Cup Sour cream
• 1/4 Cup Butter, room temperature not melted

Other Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 Small onion, diced
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream

Instructions:

1. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour and the salt. 
2. Blend the soft butter into the flour and salt mixture until it begins to resemble fine grains of sand, and is even in texture.
3. Add the sour cream and beaten egg, mix until combined but do not over mix.
4. Knead gently until dough isn't sticky adding a little extra flour if needed.
5. Cover the dough and let it rest 30 minutes.
6. After 30 minutes, set a large pot of water on the stove, salt the water and bring it to a rolling boil.
7. Roll the dough out to about 1/8th inch thick. Cut with a circle cutter, I used a three inch diameter cookie cutter.
8. Fill the circle, fold it in half so you have a half moon shape, and seal the edges together by dipping a finger in a bowl of water, running the water around the edge of the dough and pressing the seal firmly together with your fingers. 
9. Roll, cut and and fill until all the dough is used up, or your run out of filling.
10. Drop the filled Pierogi into the boiling water. When they float to the top they are cooked.
11. Remove the floating Pierogi from the pot with a slotted spoon and place on a cooling rack  over a tea towel to drain the water off them. 
12. Repeat until all Pierogi are cooked.
13. Now you can either go on to finish them, or you can freeze them at this stage to cook/reheat with the final steps after this point.
14. In a large skillet melt the 2 tablespoons of butter and once gently browned add the onions.
15.  Cook the onions for about 5 minutes. then add the Pierogi. 
16. Stir fry cook the Pierogi until they are golden brown on the outside, and warm in the middle.
17. Serve with sour cream.

Enjoy!

Notes:

So I made these some time back in February maybe (?) and have been carting the recipe around with me in my cell phone. I am fairly prone to losing my cell phone, or having it die in an unfortunate accident caused mostly by me not paying attention. . . More than one cell phone has met its end in the washing machine, along with countless lip balms. But oh well! Can't be perfect all the time is what I always say. So in an effort to not lose this recipe like I have countless others, let us do the smart thing and write it down here, and of course share!

Also I am not of Polish decent or anything close to that and I didn't really grow up with them ever being around. But I discovered that they are basically dough pockets stuffed with potato, cheese and sausage or pork or bacon or whatever. Which are some of my favorite things to eat and thus I decided that I probably would very much like to have some.

I was right, I found a really easy dough recipe that cooks up beautifully and I did kind of just go with my heart song for what the filling should be. Google Tells me my method (after doing some more Pierogi research) is a pretty traditional one, except for the filling and the unholy deliciously sinful dish I called Polish Nachos. Which was the following Pierogi recipe, then served on a plate with cheese, green onions, and bacon served on top with sour cream for dipping. So good, but not something I would suggest eating all the time unless you want a heart attack. . .

All good things in moderation. . .