Pierogi 3 Ways

Since CA and I cook a lot at home, it's hard for us to find something new that we haven't tried before.  I'm not entirely sure how I stumbled on the idea of making pierogi but I'm so very glad I did.  Pierogi are simply Polish dumplings.  I feel like most cultures have some version of this food.... ravioli... empanadas....  This one is extra awesome because it's Polish and I'm Polish.  Well, I'm a quarter Polish.  Not that that is something that affects my daily life or makes me an authority on Polish food.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't even eaten a pierogi before today.  I digress.

The first thing I did was make the dough which came together really easily with flour, butter, eggs, olive oil, salt and sour cream.  I found a lot of different versions of the dough, but liked this one because it has sour cream in it.  Since pierogi are traditionally served with sour cream, I thought it made sense to have some in the dough as well.   The other versions I saw seemed too much like pasta dough for me.

I had a hard time deciding what type of pierogi I wanted to make.  I always want to try everything, which is why I like Tapas and eating appetizers for dinner.  Apparently, you can put just about anything inside pierogi, but the three I found most often were meat, potato and sauerkraut so I decided to make all three.  Dilemma solved.

I'm really glad I opted for the variety pack.  Yes, it was more work, but it was nice to have a protein, starch and vegetable option.  Plus, it was like a little surprise each time you cut into once because you didn't know what kind you would get.

My meat filling was ground beef browned with onions and garlic and creamed up with a little bit of goat cheese.  The potato filling is essentially mashed potatoes sauteed with onions and some of the same goat cheese used in the meat filling.  Finally the kraut is just store bought sauerkraut, drained and sauteed with onions.  It was all very peasant foodish and comforting.  Of course, if you want to make just one kind of pierogi,  you can simply triple the filling ingredients for that version and make them all the same. 

The dough gets rolled out, cut into circles, stuffed and sealed.  This is a very similar procedure to making ravioli.  It's time consuming, but fairly mindless once you get going.

The dumplings are quickly boiled just to cook the "pasta" through, then you saute them in a little butter to get a nice brown color on both sides.

As I mentioned before, these are traditionally served with sour cream, which is what we did as well.  I can't tell you how happy I am with how these turned out.  I'm even happier that I only cooked half of them and I have more of them stored in my freezer for another day.

The dough was definitely denser than a ravioli or a wonton, but not overly so... more like an empanada in density.  However, I think including the sour cream gave it a really nice texture and flavor.

CA and I both had trouble selecting our favorite filling.  CA finally settled on the meat.  Coincidentally, the poor guy took some leftovers to work the next day and ended up with all kraut and potato.  I think I agree and would rank them meat, potato, kraut.  I was a little surprised because I really do love sauerkraut, but the flavor of that one was pretty mild because you drain all of the brine out of the kraut before using it.  Maybe next time I'll reduce it out over the stove instead of draining it all.  Regardless, a totally successful meal.


Dough recipe adapted from Food Network

For the Dough
2 cups Sour Cream
5 cups All Purpose Flour
2 T Butter, melted
2 Eggs
1 Egg Yolk
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Olive Oil

Combine all the ingredients in a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix on low speed until smooth, about 4-5 minutes.  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes before rolling.

For the Potato Filling
12 oz. Potato (1 medium baking potato)
1 T Milk
3 T Goat Cheese
Salt & Pepper
1 T Butter
1/3 cup Onion, finely chopped

Peel, cube and boil the potatoes until tender.  Mash the potatoes with milk and goat cheese and season with salt and pepper.  In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and saute the onions until soft.  Add the mashed potatoes and stir until combined.  Set aside.

For the Sauerkraut Filling
1 cup Sauerkraut, drained
1/3 cup Onion, finely chopped
1 T Butter
Salt & Pepper


In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and saute the onions until soft.  Add the sauerkraut and stir until combined and any remaining liquid has evaporated.  Set aside.

For the Meat Filling
1/4 lb. Ground Beef
1/3 cup Onion, finely chopped
2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
3 T Goat Cheese
Salt & Pepper

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef with the onion and garlic until the beef is brown and no more pink remains.  Remove from the heat and stir in the goat cheese until it melts.  Season with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

For Assembly, Cooking & Serving
1 Egg, beaten
4 T Butter
1 Cup Sour Cream

To assemble the pierogi, roll out the dough on a floured surface to a 1/4" thickness.  Cut the dough using a 4" round cookie cutter.  Brush the edges of each round with the beaten egg.  Place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle and fold it over into a half moon shape, pressing and pinching to seal the edges.  Repeat with the remaining dough and fillings, re-rolling the dough as necessary.

Turn the oven on to warm (approx. 200 degrees) so you can keep the pierogi warm as you cook them in batch.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  In batches (6 or so at a time), boil the pierogi for about 2 minutes or until they float (the potato ones usually do not float).

Melt 4 T of butter in a skillet over medium heat.  In batches (6 or so at a time), sear the pierogi for 2-3 minutes per side until they are golden brown.  Once one batch is done, put those in the oven to keep warm while you sear the remaining pierogi.

Serve with sour cream.


I'm worn out after all that.  Good thing CA is in charge of dinner tomorrow.
Julie