polish potato pierogi
I’m working on a bunch of different recipe “collections” to share with you and hope to have the “Crock Pot” collection done some time this week. I already have part 2 started for that collection! So many great slow cooker recipes out there, so little time. 😉
I’m also working on collections for the following: soups/stews/chowders/bisques, salads, bread, apples, pumpkins, fresh herb, Amish, Italian and Polish recipes (just to name a few.) I know, that’s already a lot. I think it will be fun to consolidate all of these into easy to navigate, searchable, reasonably priced “e-books.” Stay tuned…
So, yesterday I spent most of the day in the kitchen making up a BIG batch of Polish pierogi. I decided to start making Polish recipes because my husband is Polish. I’m Italian and I’ve been cooking a lot of different Italian meals since we were first married 18 years ago. I figured it would be fun to start cooking food that represents his heritage too, and I was right! I feel as though a whole new world has been opened up for me. So far I’ve made: bialys, babka, brown sugar kielbasa, apple and cheddar kielbasa, pierogi… and today I made a placzek cake (watch for that recipe, I’ll be posting it soon.) Oh my. I think I’m in love! I have a whole list of other Polish recipes that I can’t wait to make. What are some of your favorite recipes that represent your nationality or your spouse’s/significant other’s nationality?
Making these delicious little dumplings was kind of an adventure, and it took me awhile to get the hang of it. We had some with our dinner last night, some with breakfast, and I froze the rest so I can share them at a dinner party I’m hosting later this week. They reheat beautifully in a little toaster oven. Serve them with a dollop of sour cream and freshly snipped chives! YUM!
~Yield: approximately 24 Pierogi ~
for the potato filling:
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 cups cold mashed potatoes
salt and white pepper to taste
Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and saute until translucent. Stir this butter mixture into the cold mashed potatoes until evenly incorporated. Season to taste with the salt and white pepper. Set aside while you make the dough.
for the pierogi dough:
3 large eggs
8 oz. real sour cream (no substitutes)
3 cups AP flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
Bring a big pot of water to a boil while you make the dough.
Beat eggs and sour cream, using a wire whisk, until smooth. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together. Add to the egg mixture and mix until dough comes together. Knead a few turns until smooth (about 1 minute.)
Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. It’s important to get it very thin. Cut into 3-inch rounds. Wet the edges of the rounds. Place a Tablespoon of the mashed potato filling in the center of each round and carefully fold the dough over to encase the filling. Gently press edges together and moosh them with a fork to create little tine marks.
Add 8 pierogi to the boiling water at a time. Boil for 3 minutes, flipping a few times. Remove the boiled pierogi to a plate. Some people like to eat the pierogi at this point. I think they’re very good this way, with a little melted butter over the top and served with the sour cream and chives…. but, I think they’re even better if you fry them too. So, if you’d like to prepare them and include the frying step, read on…
Once the pierogi are done boiling, remove them to a plate with a slotted spoon. Melt a couple Tablespoons of butter in a large, non-stick skillet until hot, and add 8 of the pierogi, tine mark side down first, into the skillet. Cook them for a couple minutes per side until golden and slightly puffed. Add new butter for each batch. It’s okay if the butter browns, just don’t have the heat up so high that it starts to smoke and burn. Having the skillet full (with the 8 pierogi at a time) will help regulate the temperature.
Remove pierogi to a platter and enjoy immediately, or at room temperature. I refrigerated some over night and they were wonderful reheated in the toaster oven (as I mentioned above)… or if you like them softer and chewier, just reheat them in the microwave.
Enjoy!
~Melissa
I made these growing up and homemade are so much better. Mom and I would make 12-15 dozen each year. Freeze them after boiling by layering them in casserole dishes and brush each layer with butter. We didn’t put sour cream in the dough but I’m sure it makes it tender…we do that with our kolachky dough. We would made a huge batch of mashed potatoes with lots of sauteed onion and would over season it with salt and pepper. This way the dough will absorb those seasonings. Make it overnight so the potatoes are firm when you actually make the pierogies.
Hi, Dawn! thanks for visiting! mmmmm! I love the sound of the layered and buttered pierogi. sounds fabulous. 🙂
Thanks for this recipe. I grew up eating pierogi & the recipe I have starts with a 5lb bag of flour! My grandmother & her sisters would set aside a day & make pierogi for hours & hours. Looking forward to making pierogi without it being a marathon…& I’m going to add some cheese & cooked onion to my mashed potato, that’s my favorite!
Hi Suzanne! whoa! 5 lb. flour would certainly make a ton! sounds like when my Nana talks about making raviloi at Christmas time with her mom. She said there were raviloi on every available surface when they were done! 🙂 Thanks for visiting! Love the idea of adding cheese to the potatoes! I am so appreciating everyones’ ideas and tips! xo
I make these but a little different. We also put bacon, cheese, onion and sauerkraut in them. I make sure to rinse the kraut very well and use a soft cheese so it melts. I fry up the bacon and onions ahead of time also. I cook the potatoes and drain them then add the rest and mash it all together. I also pour butter over them after boiling and lay them in a single layer in the freezer, when they are frozen I just bag them up. It is a lot of work, but so worth it.
Hi Sue! You had me at BACON 🙂 I have got to try that. Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I was so pleased at how well these little nibbles froze and they were fantastic re-heated in the oven. Thanks for visiting.
My uncle’s family came over from Belgium in the early 1900’s. They brought a recipe for a waffle cookie called a French Waffle. I’m sure in that day that a waffle cooker held over the fire was the way it was made then, like pizelles. The recipe was 1 lb of butter, melted; 11 eggs, beaten. When butter is cool, add eggs to butter. Add 2 cups sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, packed, 3 T. honey, 2 T vanilla, 1 T cinnamon. Mix together well. Add 4 1/2 cups flour and mix. Cook in waffle iron, regular or Belgian. Makes 72 regular cookies or few Belgian. Good for breakfast, snack. Keeps well, freezes well.
Hi Ruth! Oh my goodness! what a gorgeous recipe! I am going to try it, and of course I will give you credit 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing. XO
I boil my pierogi than pan fry them in garlic butter than eat them wit your fingers
my family just love them fixed this way
Oh my… yes, they are wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing and for visiting me. XO 🙂
My MIL taught me to make pierogis 46 years ago. Her MIL taught her long before that! They soon became a weekly meal for my husband and me, and as each of our 3 children started table food, they too, fell in love with their daddy’s Polish roots! Now my daughter and her SIL make them on Christmas Eve like we always did. In-laws always had baked fish with them–usually pike from Wisconsin. We all adore them! Our recipe calls for 1/3 cup of dry cottage cheese with the potatoes and onions, and we eat them with sour cream, not sour cream in the dough. But, I’m going to try making them this new way. Family would love bacon inside, but no kraut (darn it)! So glad I saw this post on FB!! Thank you!
i was looking for a dough with sour cream and eggs, my moms was just too large to use
i make my potato with american cheese instead of cheddar.
its the way i have always had the
I have been looking for a recipe for pierogi I had them years ago My friend was polish She died and I never got the recipe Thank you for this one I will be making them for the next dinner party instead of the usual garlic bread
Hello there Sonia! So happy you like the recipe 🙂 Happy to help. Enjoy! XO ~M
I was at “WHOLE FOODS” yesterday and they had some pierogi there in a package and I read the ingredients, full of all kinds of stuff, I can’t even say or spell. Yuck. I have made them from a recipe my mother-in-law gave me. So I will be making my own and never buy them.