Pierogi making...

Few weeks ago my friend Debbie & I embarked on pierogi making...For those of you who do not know what Pierogi (plural) are, they are a dish consisting of boiled or baked dumplings of unleavened dough stuffed with varying ingredients. They are usually moon shaped. Pierogi are served in a variety of forms and tastes (ranging from sweet to salty to spicy) in Polish cuisine. Polish pierogi are often filled with fresh white cheese (farmers cheese), potatoes, and fried onions; in this form, they are called pierogi ruskie (russian) don't ask me why...Pierogi are usually served with melted butter or bacon bits. Traditionally serve two types of pierogi for Christmas Eve supper. One kind is filled with sauerkraut and dried mushrooms, another – small uszka (ears-very small pierogi) filled only with dried wild mushrooms – are served in clear borscht (beet soup)

I love pierogi but they are time consuming to make. If you attempt these, make sure that you have a buddy. Debbie and I had a great time making these, and even better time eating it.

Pierogi Dough
makes 24 pierogi



* 2 cups flour
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup warm water
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons oil

Mix all ingredients together lightly in bowl. Knead until smooth. Let rest, covered, 30 minutes. Using half of the dough at a time, roll out to 1/8 inch thickness.Cut circles with biscuit cutter or floured glass.

SaurKraut & Mushroom Filling:



* 1 lb sauerkraut, finely chopped
* 150 g butter, divided
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1/4 lb fresh mushrooms, diced
* pepper
* salt

Saute the sauerkraut in 1/3 of the butter. Fry the onion in 1/6 of the butter; fry the mushrooms in the remaining butter. Combine these ingredients, season with salt & pepper, and refrigerate until ready to assemble pierogi.


Potato & cheese filling:



* 2 large potatoes, cooked & mashed (1/2 cup instant or leftover mashed potatoes is fine too)
* 8 oz of cream cheese
* 1 onion, minced & sauteed in butter
* 1 tablespoon butter, melted
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* pepper, to taste

I use Vegeta seasoning in place of salt. You can find it in a supermarket in Ethnic section.



Combine all of the ingredients listed under filling and refrigerate until ready to assemble pierogi.

Enoy!!!

Stuffed crepes-Krokiety

I don't get the chance to cook much Polish food these days but every now and again I get a craving for tastes of my childhood...Krokiety are Polish crepes filled with cooked sourkraut, mushrooms and fried onion. They taste great served with red borsch (beet soup) These were a staple in our house and we all loved it. I know not a lot of people like sourkraut but these were a hit even with people who were adamant that they do not eat/will not try anything with sourkraut in it. I realize that I can't convert you into sourkraut lover but if you would give this recipe a try you will see how DELICIOUS it is. My husband (NO SOURKRAUT KIND OF GUY) and my daughter who is 4 years old are now huge fans of these tasty treats as well.



Crepes

2 eggs
2 tbsp of sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cups whole milk
1 cups water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil



Preparation:

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and salt. Add milk and water, stir.
Sift the flour with baking powder and add to the wet ingredients in the bowl. Whisk well, you don’t need any lumps in the batter. Add the oil, whisk again.

Heat a crêpe pan or medium size frying pan over medium heat. Very lightly brush it with oil and pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan and swirl it around. Wait until the surface doesn’t appear wet and the crêpe is lightly browned on one side, about a minute, flip the crêpe onto the other side. Proceed with the other crepes till they are all made.

Filling:

2 1/4 cup of sauerkraut
8 oz mushrooms -( wild mushrooms would be perfect, but any other will do fine as well),chopped
1 big onion, chopped
chicken broth
salt, pepper to taste

Boil chicken broth, add sauerkraut and cook it for about 15 minutes until soft,drain it and put aside. In the skillet melt 1 tablespoon of butter, add chopped onion, fry until well cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

When our sauerkraut is drained and of room temperature chop it into small pieces.
Then mix it with mushrooms and onions, season with salt and pepper.

Next, take one crepe, place it on a smooth surface,place 2 tablespoons of mushroom filling in to the center of the crepe; spread it evenly leaving about 1/2 inch border along the edge.

Roll your crepe so that all the corners were inside. The best way to do it is to fold two opposite corners toward the middle of the crepe, then still pressing these corners roll two remaining corners .If you look at the shorter side of your crepe it will look like a snail :)with no filling visible.

Finally, place your crepes into beaten egg making sure that it is coated well, then into bread crumbs . Heat a skillet with 4 tablespoons of oil. cook each crepe so it was fried on each side.