Pierogi With Onions, Mushrooms And Potatoes

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I spent 24 years living in Chicago and never tried making pierogi.I suppose, having good ones available in any supermarket freezer case made it a little pointless. Well, today I finally pulled my act together and made some.

How were they? They were good. Really good. Scroll down to next post for additional photographs of the process.

I guess half a cup of sour cream will make any pasta dough taste good. I used the real thing, so I cannot vouch for the success of using "light" sour cream. Oh yeah, that 1/4 cup of butter probably helped too. And the egg. Well, you get the idea that this isn't health food.

I found the recipe for the dough HERE. For the filling, I was on my own. It was a great way to use up odds and ends (half a red onion, a package of baby bella mushrooms, 4 red potatoes) and I have quite a bit left over. The dough made two and a half dozen pierogi, half of which I froze for a later date. I'm not sure what to do with the extra filling, other than making more pierogi. In Chicago people would make a dish called, "Lazy Pierogi" which was basically the filling mixed in with cooked egg noodles-not a bad option.

For the filling:

4 large red potatoes, diced and boiled until soft in salted water

1/2 red onion, minced

1 yellow onion, minced

1 package baby bella mushrooms

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon dried sage

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare dough according to directions HERE. Chill at least an hour.

Cook the potatoes and put through a food mill/ricer. Saute the onion in butter and olive oil over low heat until almost sot. Add the mushrooms and spices and cook down until very soft. Add to mashed potatoes,mix well and let cool before filling pierogi.

Roll out the dough, cut into rounds and fill with a small pinch of filling. You really want to keep to the theory of "less is more" because they will burst and be a big mess if you over-fill them. Seal well and pinch closed with a fork. Before you seal, try to force out any extra air surrounding the filling (as you'd do with ravioli).

Place the finished pierogi on a baking sheet and set in the fridge until you're ready to cook, or at least an hour. It helps if they dry out a bit before boiling (true of most noodles, dumplings, etc).

Boil a large pot of salted water. While the water comes to a boil, cook any additional onions/carrots/etc that you'll be serving with the pierogi. Drop the pierogi into the water a few at a time and cook until they float to the top of the surface. With a slotted spoon, remove them to a rack positioned over a baking sheet and let dry. When they are all boiled, begin heating olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat (watch that it does not begin to smoke). Cook pierogi a few at a time until nicely browned on each side. Remove to a casserole dish with onions and vegetables and keep warm in a low oven as you work.

Serve hot with sour cream (because there isn't enough fat in the pierogis already).