a make up: pierogies

I am Italian, and a mix of things on my father's side, including German and Welsh. SLH is Polish and Slovak. We have a tendency to eat Italian food, as well as whatever suits my fancy out of my myriad of cookbooks, food blogs, and pure fancy. I admit that we never make German food because I am not that into sauages, and I honestly do not know much about Polish food, or Slovak food. When Martha had a recipe for all nationalities of dumplings in her February issue, a little lightbulb went off in my head that perhaps SLH and I could make pierogis to celebrate his Polish heritage. Although Martha makes everything seem easy, I guess I did not appreciate the vastness of the task we were going to undertake. Additionally, it was not bright to plan this task for a work night, especially a night where I went to basic training in the morning. Maybe Mrs. T is onto something here. Her pierogis are ready in 5 minutes, and only cost $2 a box. Of course, then I would not have had the chance to see SLH in an apron, his little nimble fingers deftly plying the dough. I have a feeling this scored points with SLH's Polish mother as well.



Martha's recipe, according to my mom's Slovak neighbor, is pretty standard. Having never made this, I was not entirely sure what the dough would look like. I am used to homemade pasta dough, which is less sticky. I think my dough was a little off, so I added more flour than Martha called for. I made both the dough, and boiled all the potatoes before SLH arrived home from work. He then cut the onions, and mashed up the filling. I then rolled out the dough, and he cut the circles. We both took turns making and filling pierogis. We also sauteed the precious onions in tons of butter for the most traditional of toppings. (Martha suggested covering them with applesauce, but that sounded gross to us).

Martha's recipe for Pierogi from Feb 2008 issue

makes 32




dough:

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk, more if needed

filling:

2 lbs yukon gold potatoes, peeled (about 8)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons chicken stock
pepper to taste





To make the dough, whisk together flour and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the center, and add egg and milk. Using your hands, gently draw egg mixture into flour mixture. Continue to work until dough comes together to form a ball. (She says to add more milk if it is crumbly. Mine was too sticky so I added flour). Place dough on a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 1 hour.

















Meanwhile, you should be carmelizing onions if you want them to put on top. We did not follow Martha's recipe.


For the filling, you boil the peeled potatoes, about 17 to 20 minutes. Drain, and then put them back into the pot so they can dry off a bit. Martha recommends a food mill or a ricer. We had neither, and just used an old fashioned masher to try to make the potato the right texture. Also, we included finely minced onion in our filling, about half a cup to the 8 potatoes, as we remembered a good onion taste to the filling of our childhood church lady pierogis. To the mashed up potato and onion, you add the chicken stock, and some pepper. We also included some grated cheddar cheese.



Roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. Martha used a 2 3/4 inch cutter, but we found this made pretty small dumplings. We used a 3 5/8 inch one. They looked more like Mrs. T. Spoon filling into a dough round, about 1 tablespoon, and press closed, forcing the air out. We used a little water on the edges to seal them closed. Repeat what seems like a never-ending amount of times.


To cook, add dumplings to boiling water. Martha's smaller sized ones recommend a 4 minute cooking time. Our bigger ones took about 8 minutes. Drain, and cover with butter and sauteed onions.

















I have to admit that this is a terrible picture. One of the food blogs I read, Peabody, has such great food photography. She would probably comment that this is all blah colored brown food, much in need of a green vegetable. I definitely agree, but after making all those pierogis, on a work night, and sitting down to dinner around 10:00p.m., we were happy to be eating anything !


After Pierogi Fest 2008 my mom told me about a church in my hometown that was featured on the news. I am sure this was on the news as it is still Lent, and I am from a very very Catholic hometown. Anyway, they showed 20 older ladies who worked at a local church, and were making pierogi for their church's sale that week. Twenty ladies made 8000 pierogis in one day. They used an assembly line system, 350 pounds of potatoes, and very nimble fingers. They put us to shame!