Springtime curls dewy petals in Seattle. Cherry blossoms sag in pink and white under rain splatter, and my favorite weeds, the dandelions, shake their golden manes, then fold their fringe into their green bracts. Part of the time we get a little sun here.
Best of all, I’m on spring break, and I’ve been cooking as much as possible in an attempt to balance all the take-out food I’ve been eating lately. I visited the farmer’s market and picked up potatoes and kumquats. I bought fresh okra, which is tastiest when simply sliced into rounds, sautéed with butter, and lightly seasoned with salt. I, of course, made Tamara’s Roasted Chicken and Smashed Potatoes, but this time my bird was really big, and even after making Lemon Chicken Risotto, I still had lots of leftovers. So, I decided to make pierogi!
Photo by Lindsey
I have never made pierogi before, but you can never go wrong stuffing food inside bread, like ravioli or hum bao. I researched this most famous Polish food, and discovered two main types: the boiled dumpling version, which is the most common, and a baked yeast dough version that works well for meat.
I started the yeast dough first, because it takes time to rise. I made the base first (a little yeast, water and flour), then divvied it up into smaller portions in a muffin tin and added egg and flour to rise again.
While the yeast was doing its thing, I made the fillings for both types of pierogi. For the meat filling, I minced the leftover chicken and sautéed it with chopped onions and mushrooms; for the potato filling, I just stirred in sautéed onions and cottage cheese. The seasonings on both meat and potato leftovers were plenty on their own, but adding some smoked paprika lets ‘em know you mean business.
The dough for boiled pierogi was easy and fun to make: just flour, water, egg, and a little salt. Roll it thin, then cut circles with a pint glass if you (like me) don’t have cookie cutters. Now you’re ready to stuff the pierogi.
Put a spoon of potato and cheese in the middle of the flattened dough, and pinch the edges shut with your fingers. Don’t overstuff, or the filling will leak out when you cook them! For the yeast dough, just mush the chicken into each ball with your fingers and pinch closed. (I used too much meat for mine, so they wouldn’t close, but they were awesome anyway). Bake the chicken pierogi at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or so. Boil the potato pierogi until they float. You can also pan fry the potato pierogi with onions after you boil them. Serve with sour cream and/or butter!
Pierogi are also excellent with any fresh seasonal fruit filling. Try them with Fresh Apricot Compote, Honey-Roasted Peaches, or just beat together sugar, sour cream and fresh berries. Use the same version of dough as for the potato pierogi, then boil and sauté. So delicious!
