Pierogi
- 3 heaping cups flour
- 3 eggs, beaten
- Salt
- 1 stick butter
- 1 large onion, 1/4-inch dice
- 32 -ounce canned or fresh kapusta (sauerkraut), rinsed well to remove brine
- Salt and pepper
- Cheese filling (note: a traditional recipe would call for farmer's cheese, but we find it too dry)
- 1 pound ricotta
- 2 eggs
- Salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Make a well from the flour.
- Add eggs and about 1/2 cup of water.
- The amount of water will vary according to the weather.
- You want to make a stiff dough.
- Divide it into 3 equal portions and knead until silky smooth.
- Fillings: We usually make cheese and kapusta (sauerkraut), but you can use meat, potatoes, or even fruit.
- Saute onion in butter until just soft.
- Add kapusta and brown.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Allow time for the filling to cool before assembling pierogi, otherwise they will fall apart when cooked.
- If making more than one filling, this one can cool while you prepare the others.
- Mix well.
- To assemble and cook pierogi: Roll out a portion (or half portion, if space is limited) of the dough on a floured surface as thinly as possible -- somewhere between a wonton and a thin pizza.
- Put about a tablespoon of filling on the dough and use a large plastic cup (a big gulp-type cup works really well) to cut a circle around the filling.
- Dampen half of the circumference of the circle with a bit of water on your finger and fold into a dumpling.
- Boil the dumplings a dozen at a time in a big pot of salted water until they float -- no more than 3 minutes.
- At this point you can freeze them in bags for later use.
- To prepare for serving, brown the pierogi in a skillet using a bit of butter.
- If you want to be really traditional you can use bacon grease.
- Alternately, you can bake them in a casserole, spraying both the casserole and the pierogi with a butter flavored spray, and putting a few pats of butter on top of the dumplings.
- The recipes for this program, which were provided by contributors and guests who may not be professional chefs, have not been tested in the Food Network's kitchens.
- Therefore, the Food Network cannot attest to the accuracy of any of the recipes.
flour, eggs, salt, butter, onion, fresh kapusta, salt, recipe would, ricotta, eggs, salt, sugar
Taken from www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pierogi-recipe.html (may not work)