Pierogi Recipie: An Ode to my Grandmother.

I remember being little and 'helping' my grandmother make Pierogi. More often than not I was just making a
mess, but I always remember waiting until the first few were out of the water so I could eat them. For those who
don't know Pierogi are dough pockets that can be filled with a lot of different things. In my family we had
“Kapusta” and “Potato and Cheese” Pierogi. They are boiled and then pan-fried, though I often didn't even wait
for that. As my grandmother got older she gradually stopped making them, and I started. I know there are a lot of
different ways to make Pierogi, and its a food that spans several cultures so the fillings differ house-to-house. As
for my grandmother she was born polish, lived for awhile working on a farm in austria before coming to the
states. She spoke seven languages to my knowledge including polish, german, ukranian, russian, and english.
When it comes down to her recipies I am never really sure if they are polish, or something else altogether since it
seems a lot of times she mix-and-matched languages. What I am sharing is what I was taught. Enjoy!

Pierogi Dough:

3 cups flour
2 egg yolks
1 tbs oil
1 cup water

Combine all ingrediants in a

large mixing bowl, and begin
to knead/mix it together.
(I'm not sure how a electrix
mixer will work for this, we've
always just used our hands.
Make sure they are clean!)
Mixing it will take a little
while, it will seem sticky and
its not a altogether pleasant
feeling. (I cried my eyes out
when I was five because I couldn't get the dough off my
hands! Turns out my gram was right flour works better than
water to unstick yourself.) After awhile the dough should
start coming together. (If it still seems really-really sticky
add more flour, or if its really dry add a little more water)
When you've gotten it all to stick together in a
ball you can remove it from the bowl and
begin to Knead it on a clean surface. It may
still seem to stick to your hands and the
counter but don't worry. After ten minites or
so of kneading it the dough should be smooth
and only a little tacky. Put it back in the bowl
and cover with a damp (not wet) towel until
your ready to use the dough.
So now you have the dough! Now comes the fun part!

Cut your dough in half. Place half back in the bowl and recover. Then roll what remains out like a
snake. The snake should be between one and two inches
wide. Working on a floured surface, slice it as shown in the
picture to the left, how wide you choose to cut it will
make your Pierogi either bigger or smaller. (Smaller
ones certainly go further.)

Once thats done roll each piece out into circles. If you can
see thru them, they are too thin. (Becareful, thin streached
ones can end up like the one in the picture below I marked as
bad, they break open in the water.)

Now that they are rolled out, place your choice of

filling in the center. (I used Kapusta filling; recipies
below)

All thats left now is to fold them over and pinch

them together. (Grandma always used to say “glue
up” when it came to this.) Make sure that they are
compleetly sealed all the way around.

Boil these in a pot of water with a little oil added to

it. I recommend only boiling about five or six at a
time so they don't end up sticking together. It will
only take about 5min before they float to the top. Remove them from the water and place on a cookie
sheet to cool and dry. Remember to flip them over after one side is dry so the other side can too. You
can go ahead and eat them at this stage. Or you can fry them
in a pan with butter. You can fry them with onions or
breadcrumbs. Both are great.
Kapusta, so good even a cat will eat it!

Kapusta is very simple to make. It is great

either as a filling for Pierogi or on its own
with Kielbasa. Kapusta I believe is actually
the word for cabbage. But in this case our
family (and others?) use it to refer to this
particilar dish.

You Will Need:

1 package of Sourkraut.
1 small head of Cabbage or ½ of a larger one.
1 package of Bacon.
Salt and Pepper.
Chopped Onions
(Mushrooms can also be added)

In a large pan (or electric skillet) fry bacon and onions until browned. Half drain your sourkraut and
add it to the pan. (You can also add some water if you choose.) Shred the cabbage and place this onto
of whats already in your pan. The cabbage will shrink down as it cooks so even though it may look
like a lot, it really isn't. Just be patient and let this all cook down for awhile stirring every so often.
The longer you cook it the less sour it will become. I generally cook mine anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.
Add your salt and pepper to taste.

Note: If you plan to use this for

the Pierogi it is best to let it cool
first otherwise it may be hard to
work with.
Potatoe and Cheese

Well I guess you could eat it by itself as a strange sort of mashed

potatoe, but it really makes a very good Pierogi filling.

You will Need:

4-5 potatoes
1 onion
2 packages of “cream cheese”
1 stick of butter (or more)

Peel cut and boil your potatoes until done and drain. In a seperate frying pan fry your onions in butter
until they are slightly browned. You will want to use a lot of butter for this, the more the merrier. (It
really does a lot for the flavor so don't skimp to much! You can propably get away with using
margarine if you prefer.) Add your onions and butter to the potatoes and begin to mash them. Slowly
add the cream-cheese to the mixture. Thats all there is to it. You can use more or less cream-cheese to
suit your tastes.