Friday, January 7, 2011

Polish Dumplings for Dinner

Who doesn't love a pierogi? Seriously, mashed potatoes wrapped in dough were sent straight from heaven sometime after the Hebrew slaves were set free from Egypt. God sent the people pierogies that they could gather and eat. (Its true read the message bible!) Delicious! Thank you Lord!

Okay, perhaps its not heaven's food, but it's pretty darn good and fun to make! They're also surprisingly easy to make and a great way to use up left over mashed potatoes. I made my mashed potatoes fresh that night, but its really more of pain to use fresh because you have to let them cool a little before you put them onto the dough. So next time you have a ton of mashed potatoes and no where to go, won't you consider a peirogi?

Start with 8 oz. sour cream and 3 egg base and whip together. Add  3cups flour, one tablespoon baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt.

Begin to knead until firm. Cut in half and roll each half  to 1/8 inch thickness.

Cut into 3 inch circles (I used a can 3 inches in diameter)
When it comes to the mashed potatoes add some Cheese (however much you like) to the filling.

Put the mashed potato filling, just a spoonful into the center of one circle.

When you seal the peirogi, just wet the rim of the dough so that the sides stick together and press around the edges with a fork.

Boil in salted water for 3 to 5 minutes until they float to the top of the pot. Take them out and let them drain for a minute. When I was finished with this step, I threw them in a pan of onions, sautéed in butter and browned them a little before serving.

Browned in onions and bursting with flavor!

Dinner.

A Child happily eating, what a wonderful sight!
And think about this, if you already have the mashed potatoes and you have eggs, cheese, flour, baking powder and salt all you have to purchase is sour cream. That's a literally a two dollar meal, $4.00 if you don't have the cheese. Not too shabby, it's almost as if it did rain down from heaven at that price!

*Special Thanks To Chrissy Faust for her picture taking.

4 comments:

  1. Minus the cheese and sour cream, add a little onion, bread cubes, salt and pepper to the potatoes and you have what your Nanny called "fuilt nudles" (filled noodles). I use to make them all the time when you were little.

    ReplyDelete
  2. By the way, great pictures Chrissy and what a beautiful little daughter you have!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's right I forgot about "Fuilt Noodles!" I remember seeing the recipe card carefully written out in PA Dutch/English. So cute!! I'll have to try making the filled noodles sometime. I'll get the recipe from you and I have to get a picture of that recipe card!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Skip the baking soda, or add just a teaspoon, not tablespoon, so your pierogis will be even better.
    Also try the different fillings, like for example mix of whipped philly cheese with strawberries, or spinach with mushrooms, or ground beef sauteed with onions and little garlic, or cooked sauerkraut with dices sausage or diced apples with cinnamon ...the possibilities are endless.

    ReplyDelete

Please leave a comment! I love to hear from you, but please forgive me if I don't get back to you right away, It's most likely I have a child climbing up my butt.