making pierogi
So, what's that plate of meat doing in a post about making pierogi? While we were making them, I had a batch of short ribs slow cooking in the smoker out back.
What are the secrets to good pierogi? Try adding sour cream to the dough. Roll the dough as thin as you can before making the circles. Boil only until they start floating. We saute them with onions and mushrooms after boiling until they start to brown. Our filling is half potato, half cottage cheese. Use the herbs and spices you like.
5 comments:
I am so hungry looking at those right now, yum. Oh my god, the ribs look incredible.
Is pierogi kinda like ravioli? I must try and make some dough one of these days, "pull" my own pasta, as they say in Italy.
You say add sour cream, but what else do you use for the dough? Is it just flour and egg?
sure, they're a lot like ravioli.
4 cups of flour
2 eggs
about 6 tsp sour cream
about 6 tsp really good oil (I use a light extra virgin olive oil)
The dough should be just dry enough that you can roll it out with a sprinkle of flour on your rolling surface and a sprinkle of flour on the dough. Roll it to about 1/16 inch (even though Canada has been metric for years and years, I still revert back to Imperial measurement when I'm cooking).
Filling: boil a bunch of potatoes (I use a mix of red potatoes and Yukon Gold), and smash them up with a hand tool (don't use a mixer please). Add the same amount of cottage cheese or ricotta and mix them together. You can season them how you like, but traditionally, just add salt and fresh ground pepper.
Find a glass about 3" in diameter and use it to cut the rolled out dough into circles. Add a blog of filling, enough so that you can just barely fold the dough over. Close them by either pinching or crimping with the tongs of a fork. My mother and my aunt pinched with their fingers, and they looked really nice that way with wavey edges. My fingers are too big to do that well, so I use a fork and it works fine.
What we do is lay a bunch on a platter then put the whole platter into the freezer. When the perogies are frozen, we bag them, 12 to a bag (if you bag them right away, they'll stick together). I can't tell the difference between a frozen perogi and a never frozen one.
Boil them until they float, then saute them with onions and mushrooms in half oil/half butter until the perogies brown a little on each side.
When you're ready to cook
oops, I should say you will have to add water a little at a time to the dough as you mix until it is right.
oops again....
at the end of my first comment.... with frozen perogies, when you are ready to cook them, get your water boiling fully, then drop the frozen perogies in one or two at a time...otherwise, they'll add enough cold to slow down the boil.
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