Pierogies for Easter


I love making perogies for Easter. It just seems right. I wanted to make two kinds this year both fillings based on mashed potatoes as the main ingredient. I boiled some diced and peeled Yukon gold potatoes until tender. I use Yukon golds because when riced, they are creamy and not as grainy as Idaho potatoes.



I make the dough in advance because it must be refrigerated for a couple hours. The dough has sour cream in it and is a nice smooth pliable dough to work with.



The only time I use jarred sauerkraut is for pierogies. The flavor is mellow and it is the perfect consistency.


This is the dough just before being refrigerated.


My pierogie pal is finding it tough to wake up to work on the assembly line this morning.


You can tell this by the fact that there is some flour on the floor which she has not noticed yet.


For filling number one, I diced up some onion and sauteed it in butter just until soft.


She's awake!


Oops....not for long!


Stay awake puppy....I have the feeling something will hit the floor soon.


As soon as the onions have softened, I mix them with half of the riced potatoes and add mild cheddar cheese and chopped bacon which I prepared earlier. The Blog Tech left out some of the steps. I am not holding it against him. Today is opening day for baseball and he has a one track mind. BASEBALL.. BASEBALL.. BASEBALL!!!


The top bowl is cabbage for a dish I will post tomorrow. The filling on the lower left is the potato, cheese, onion and bacon.

The filling on the lower right is potato. sauerkraut and pepper.





The filling should be at room temperature. Now it is time to roll out the dough and form the pierogies. The dough should be rather thin, about 1/8th inch.






Using a small ice cream scoop, you place a bit of filling along the length of dough and fold the dough over the filling.


I use a biscuit cutter to cut out each one. Then the edges are crimped between your fingers.




I place each one on a well floured surface as I work.


When crimping the edges you must be sure to seal the entire perimeter. You do not want these opening when they are boiled.


The process is repeated until you run out of dough or filling or both.


I then refrigerate them just so they firm up a bit before taking the plunge.


This year I taught the Blog Tech how to make them.

He is such a good Polish boy. He made them perfectly. Hey Blog Tech! Get a hair cut! Love, mama.


The pierogies are dropped into boiling salted water and cooked until they float. As they are removed from the boiling water, they are placed in a bowl of melted butter with a bit of sour cream beaten in and completely coated. This is important or else they will stick together and you will end up with a pierogie loaf. Not a good thing.


Potato and cheese on the left. Sauerkraut and potato on the right. Teddy licking the floor!


*** HEY! Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the brass candlesticks by clicking on the button on the sidebar!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Ok , I can officially tell everyone who visits Your blog ,what a hard working woman You are ! We have a huge Ukrainian population here and perogies are of course well known here . Our youngest is addicted to perogies!
I have made them from scratch once ! never again , you are so brave ;-) we just buy ours at the store .
Is it not great that our children feel comfortable to cook I actually know people who do not allow thier children in the kitchen to help with cooking ! I can't imagine it .
Ok it is nearing lunch and I so wish I had fresh perogies not frozen lol
Thanks so much .
The pierogies are fantastic. Please save a few for me.

Teddy struggles with waking and work. To early? She is such a little princess.

Wishing you all a great week.
Danni said…
Ooooh, we love our pierogies around here, especially my youngest son...he gobbles them up like you wouldn't believe. But ours are also purchased in small, festive boxes from Trader Joes, boiled for 4-6 minutes and then fried until lightly browned and a bit crispy. lol
Sadly, they've recently discontinued them, so I may have to give your recipe a try. Yours look incredibly delicious!!
It´s such a long time since I ate pierogies! They became popular here in Sweden in the early eighties. But it was the russian and finnish varieties that were most popular here. Then one day they just dissapered, theturkish kebab had arrived :-)

I just came to think of it, but mu hughe chinese wok would be perfect to boil these in on my fire heated stove!


Teddy is soo cute! I can understand her since You get up even earlier than me :-) :-)

Yes baseball season has started.
It´s a very tiny sport over here but we do have a local team called Skövde Saints. Their first home game will be at may 15. I will really try to get there then :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.
pastrywitch said…
Food wrapped in dough - how can you go wrong with that? :)
Bitsa Lit said…
mmm I love perogies... You always know how to make my day better... you show me pictures of yummy fooooood!
brokenteepee said…
Potato and sauerkraut are my favorite. I haven't made them in years. My Polish grandmother taught me. She came over on "the boat."

I used to love to eat at her house. She made the best egg noodles in the world.

Mmmmm.
i have never eaten one of these and they look so GOOD !

tonight i am making ham croquettes with a white sauce out of Betty Crocker and potatoe pancakes...salad with iceberg..still nothing too fancy..still licking my wounds...but we are starting our 2 week count-down. i am actually keeping a journal starting today...on the last 2 weeks..the weather and what i made for dinner..while we waited....

hugs to Teddy and You !
Kary
Marjorie said…
No, I love the long hair, let him keep the 'do! I did receive my giveaway package--I thought I had e-mailed earlier to say it had arrived but I guess I did not, so chalk that up to a senior moment. You've created a monster, I am on a milk glass collecting spree at the moment, lol.
Sharon Lovejoy said…
Loved your comment on my recent post about how hard it is to pry you from your home now. I KNOW the feeling and am quite a homebody, but if I am going to earn a living writing, well, I had better be ready to do the promotional travel my publisher needs. They invest soooo much money in producing a book and they need the co operation of the author before they invest their faith, hope, and $$$. I understand, but I love being in my own home.

Blog Tech looks pretty darned good. I'll bet he doesn't want his Mama reminding him to get a hair cut. I used to do that, but now my Noah has hair that is too short. I miss his red curls, but he is a big guy now and those don't fit into his profession.

Sending love to you and your kitchen helper. I am tickled that Kary is naming her new puppy Teddy in your honor.

Love,

Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island
Sharon Lovejoy said…
Oh, and I have never tasted a pierogie! Looks yummy. We have a 100 year old sauerkraut place a few miles from our house. It is called Morse's Sauerkraut and it is GOOD. You would love it.

S
Yum! Looks delicious, as always ♥

Leave the Blog Tech's hair alone- it looks just fine! :p
Nydia said…
This is the first time I hear about it! I'm glad I did, it look so delicious!!
Unknown said…
The things you create in that kitchen never cease to amaze me.
As always your post makes me hungry.
Carma Sez said…
I love pierogies - although I do cheat and make the frozen Mrs. T ones - but no one has to be the wiser ;-)
Mmmm...brings me back. My paternal Grandparents were first generation Poles and every Easter and Christmas we would drive to their house for the big, family holiday parties. It always smelled of pierogies and kielbasa and sauerkraut! (Oh, my!) As a kid, I didn't appreciate the love and tradition that went into it, but now, Easter isn't Easter without them! (Even though I don't eat meat or sauerkraut, but I can still do the pierogies, right?)