As a result, this weekend I made homemade pierogies.
I started by peeling (& boiling) enough potatoes to make about 2 or 3 cups of mashed potatoes.
While they were cooking, I made the dough:
You beat 2 eggs with 1/2 cup of oil until they're light in colour, then add 1.5 cups warm water and 1.5 tbsp salt. Next, you gradually add 5 cups flour and knead until it's a soft dough. (I started by using the mixer, but finished kneading it by hand.) Cover the dough, and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Luckily, while the dough is resting, you can grate the cheese. When the potatoes are soft, mash them, then add the grated cheese. Let it melt, then mix. Let them cool a bit so they don't burn your hands during the next step.
Next, stop eating the cheesy mashed potatoes. You can eat the leftovers later.
Roll out the dough, then cut in diamonds. (The recipe says to cut with a round cookie cutter, but I'm too lazy for that - diamonds work just as well, you just end up with triangles instead of half circles.
Put a scoop of the potato mixture on each diamond, then fold into triangles and seal the edges.
Put them in a container separated by waxed paper, and freeze (if you don't plan to eat them immediately). 
To cook, boil a pot of salted water, drop the pierogies in and stir. Let them boil for about 10 minutes, then strain. (You want to let them cook several minutes after they float to the top.) After that, you can fry them in butter & onions if you want.
oh that sounds good. i will have to try that! what do you serve it with (or is it more of an appetizer)?
ReplyDeleteColette, next time you're thinking of making pyrogies, I have a really good pyrogy cutter that you could borrow and that works really well(at the very least it saves you from doing all that pinching).
ReplyDeleteAnd to provide one response to Crystal Chick's question: Some people like eating pyrogies with sour cream. Personally I prefer them boiled with butter. They're very good with cabbage rolls and kielbasa (Polish or Ukrainian sausage). But I've also enjoyed them with ribs and with chicken wings. I've also eaten them with fish to make the idea of eating fish more palatable.
Crystal, I'd say it's more of a side dish (although I've been known to eat an entire meal of them). I agree with Connie, I would probably have them with sausage. A lot of people have them with sour cream. (This has, in recent years, been a side dish in my family on Christmas eve, so then we have them with ham, scalloped potatoes, and salad).
ReplyDeleteConnie, thanks for the offer, I'll remember that (but my planning ahead skills are sometimes lacking).
Since I'm vegetarian, I will eat a full meal of perogies - along with some steamed or raw vegetables. I like to boil them and then lightly fry on a bed of onions [so the perogies never really touch the frying pan - just the onions].
ReplyDeleteI've thought of making them from scratch and I know they would taste good and stuff...but your post has proven to me that it's a lot of effort and I'm so lazy...
That sounds awesome! :)
ReplyDeleteSydney, it took about 2 hours start to finish - including the time needed for the potatoes to cook - so it wasn't that long.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jen, yes, they were very good. :)
The Ukrainians and Mennonites in my family do a day 1 and day 2 thing with the pyrogies. Day 1 they are served boiled with steamed cabbage and sour cream. Day 2 they are fried with onion, bacon, and smoked sausage along with cabbage rolls made from the left over steamed cabbage.
ReplyDelete-Jen R.
Those don't look like diamonds, they look like squares to me :P And I don't understand how using a square cookie cutter is being less lazy than using a circle one!
ReplyDeleteWell, anonymous, the key is to cut the diamonds with a knife, not a cookie cutter. (If you use a round cookie cutter, you have the dough between the circles left, and you have to roll it out again. Definitely more work.)
ReplyDeleteI should mention that it works better if you freeze them spread out on cookie sheets instead of stacked. I just didn't have enough room in the freezer to do that.
ReplyDelete