I’ve been eating pierogi (pierogies?) since I was a little kid, but this project takes us a far cry from the freezer-burned grocery store packages of days gone by. And though you would need to be a speedier chef than I proved to be to crack out these tasty dumplings in the 60 minutes the recipe suggests, none of the steps are actually all that challenging. The dough is silky and cooperative and everything works just like you’d expect, so while it’s a time commitment, it can be a relaxing afternoon in the kitchen as well. So turn on NPR, make some tea, and have a feast for dinner (just add sauerkraut and sour cream).
I doubled the batch, figuring that if I was going to invest myself in such a production line, I wanted leftovers. Otherwise I followed the instructions just as I found them at King Arthur, boiled and fried them up in some butter and onions, and deemed them delicious.
Note from Rebecca:
Molly beats me to the punch on this topic. Here I was readying my own pierogi missive, passing on a recipe that my cousins obtained from a cooking class at the Strawberry Hill Museum and Cultural Center in Kansas City, ground zero for my hometown’s Eastern European communities. It’s very similar to the King Arthur version cited, breaking away to tuck the sour cream into the potato filling instead of the dough. Instead, I’ll offer an alternative filling.
SAUERKRAUT FILLING
3 cups sauerkraut, drained
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
Melt butter in pan and sauté onions. Add sauerkraut, salt and pepper. Turn off heat and stir until combined. Cool approximately 30 minutes before filling pierogi.
Note: Crumbled bacon can be added to filling, or sprinkled over cooked pierogi
