A Pile of Pierogies

Last month at our inaugural Bitchin' In The Kitchen gathering, a group of 5 bawdy women in our 50's made challah, drank wine and laughed our asses off at my house. As we shared ideas about the second meet-up, Suzanne offered to host and suggested we make pierogies. Who doesn't love pierogies?! We all jumped at the chance to roll some dough, enjoy an adult beverage and eat freshly made pierogies with a group of fantastic women.

Pierogi is the national dish of Poland and is somewhat of a generic term for a filled dumpling. They can be filled with ground meat, sauerkraut, the classic potato & cheese combo or even fruit for a tasty little dessert or afternoon snack. The origin of this dish is unclear, but its been around since at least the 1200's and it's called by many different different names in eastern European cultures. They show up on Slovakian, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian and German tables, but they are such an important and beloved part of Polish culture that every holiday has its own type of pierogi. Pittsburgh has had a love affair with the pierogi since the Industrial Revolution, when a huge eastern European workforce brought their traditions to the region. Pierogies are so popular here that in the 5th inning break of Pittsburgh Pirates games, people dressed in giant pierogi costumes race each other around the outfield. I usually root for Jalapeno Hannah.

PIEROGIES

For the dough
3 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt (1 tsp garlic salt optional)
3/4 c melted butter
3/4 c water
1 egg

For the filling
2 lbs Russet potatoes
2 c grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 medium onion, chopped and caramelized in butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Making pierogies from scratch is a real commitment. This is not something you whip up on a weeknight when you get home from work. These dumplings were traditionally made by large groups of women for big gatherings like weddings and holidays. Depending on the size of the cutter, this recipe makes 40 to 50 periogies, which is enough to serve about six people. Its hardly worth the effort for a few portions and since there were four of us bitchin' in the kitchen, Suzanne was prepared for a large scale production.

Using a couple of different recipes for guidance, Suzanne, Lynn and Marie had boiled six pounds of potatoes, letting them cool slightly before mixing in four cups of grated cheese, two large sauteed onions and salt and pepper in the stand mixer. While the filling cooled, they made small batches of two different dough recipes - one with egg and one without. I arrived a couple hours late and when I walked in the door, they handed me a matching apron, a delicious adult beverage and a small plate with two pierogies on it, one from each batch of dough. With just a little bit of salt and butter, they were both delicious and I wanted to eat 7 more, but we had work to do. The dough with the egg in it had a pleasant toothsome texture while the eggless dough was slightly gummy. We all agreed that the dough with egg was superior in taste and texture, so Suzanne started making a second batch of dough. Pierogie production had begun! 

To make the dough, Suzanne put the water and butter in a small pot on the stove and gently heated them until the butter melted. She put the flour and seasoning in the bowl of the stand mixer and using the dough hook, she blended in the water until the dough started to come together. Finally, she added the egg and kneaded the dough until it had a slightly sticky, slightly elastic texture and felt almost like a pasta dough, which took about 5 minutes.

We set up an assembly line with Suzanne rolling the dough very thinly and cutting it into rounds. She didn't have a pastry or biscuit cutter, so she was using a cocktail shaker to cut the dough. Lynn filled each round with a couple tablespoons of filling, Marie dampened the edges of the dough with a little water and sealed each pierogie and I was at the end of the line with a fork crimping the edges and filling tray after tray with beautiful, handmade dumplings. After four hours, we'd made 5 batches of dough and ended up with about 250 pierogies.

Finally, Suzanne boiled some water while Marie sauteed onions in butter until they were a deep, golden brown. Suzanne dropped a dozen pierogies into the pot and boiled them just until they floated. Using a slotted spoon, she fished them out and dropped them into the pan with the onions and added another generous nub of butter. Our reward was at hand and we sampled our handiwork with a great sense of pride. My oh my, those little pillows of joy were tender and chewy and just delightful and we each took home an enormous ziplock bag of pierogies. To freeze these little beauties, lay them out on a sheet tray covered with a piece of parchment paper or waxed paper and place the tray in the freezer for about half an hour. Once the pierogies are frozen they can be put in bags and kept for months in the freezer.  It looks like our next Bitchin' in the Kitchen gathering will take place at Lynn's house and she's planning to have us make ravioli, the Italian version of pierogies, another large scale production. I sense a pattern developing here.