Homemade pierogies
So, I made pierogies today.
Sure, it's easier to buy frozen pierogies.
Sure, it is a LOT of work.
But when you have a food sensitivity, you try. You try to make things from scratch so you don't get sick. And you try to eat things that are yummy, at the same time.
While digging around in my freezer this week, I found some "No MSG added" Kielbasa. I'd have to say it's probably been 20 years since I had Kielbasa; it was one of the first things that made me sick, then I realized I couldn't eat MSG anymore. (Spoiler: did not get sick tonight..win!)
So when you find gold such as this, you tend to make a meal of it. (And by you, I of course mean me. I have no idea what you'd do, really.)
So I nonchalantly promised the Hubs (aka husband, hubby ) home made pierogies, thinking hey, how hard can it be right?
I should never say that.
I don't think you can probably REALLY sprain a wrist kneading dough, but I came close.
Here is a photo of the dough. Getting it smooth was quite the feat since it's kind of tough.
Next I made the filling. It calls for boiled potatoes and 8oz of sharp cheese of some kind. Not very specific. I had some white cheddar and mashed potatoes. Not sharp enough, so I added some Italian 5 cheese blend. That did the trick.
As the dough rests (a whole half hour! I was starving!) I made some onions because...fried onions are like candy and with butter? Forget about it. Swoon worthy.
This takes some time since they are easily burned.
Finally the half hour was up and it was time to roll the dough 1/8 inch thick.
This is pretty thin and I think it would have been even better if it were thinner. But my arms were rather weak, and this was about the hardest I could roll them. These polish women that made these often? They had to be strong!
Here you can see me attempting to put the gnocchi sized bits of these cheesy mash in the dough. I really wanted to put so much more, but it would squeeze out and then you just get a mess instead of these boiled dumplings. Messes are no good.
On the right you can see the dumplings sealed with water. (It's a shadow there, by the way, the plate was not about to fall off the table. Because if it were, it would have. Clumsy is my middle name.)
Next I boiled them for 8 minutes and thought about putting them on paper towel when they were done, but I really dislike shredded paper towel in my food. So I used a new clean tea towel. That worked pretty well.
And There you have it! Dinner. Kielbasa and Pierogies.
My kitchen was a disaster and so was my work table, but they were great.
I encourage you to try them.
Depending on the kind of cheese you use, we're only talking about 2 dollars for the pierogies plus the price of cheese. A couple more for the kielbasa. Super cheap and super good.
--Vicky a.k.a The Clumsy Chef (see what I did there?)
Tonight's recipe is courtesy of Food Network:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pierogies-with-potato-and-cheese-filling-recipe.html
Sure, it's easier to buy frozen pierogies.
Sure, it is a LOT of work.
But when you have a food sensitivity, you try. You try to make things from scratch so you don't get sick. And you try to eat things that are yummy, at the same time.
While digging around in my freezer this week, I found some "No MSG added" Kielbasa. I'd have to say it's probably been 20 years since I had Kielbasa; it was one of the first things that made me sick, then I realized I couldn't eat MSG anymore. (Spoiler: did not get sick tonight..win!)
So when you find gold such as this, you tend to make a meal of it. (And by you, I of course mean me. I have no idea what you'd do, really.)
So I nonchalantly promised the Hubs (aka husband, hubby ) home made pierogies, thinking hey, how hard can it be right?
I should never say that.
I don't think you can probably REALLY sprain a wrist kneading dough, but I came close.
Here is a photo of the dough. Getting it smooth was quite the feat since it's kind of tough.
Next I made the filling. It calls for boiled potatoes and 8oz of sharp cheese of some kind. Not very specific. I had some white cheddar and mashed potatoes. Not sharp enough, so I added some Italian 5 cheese blend. That did the trick.
As the dough rests (a whole half hour! I was starving!) I made some onions because...fried onions are like candy and with butter? Forget about it. Swoon worthy.
This takes some time since they are easily burned.
Finally the half hour was up and it was time to roll the dough 1/8 inch thick.
This is pretty thin and I think it would have been even better if it were thinner. But my arms were rather weak, and this was about the hardest I could roll them. These polish women that made these often? They had to be strong!
Here you can see me attempting to put the gnocchi sized bits of these cheesy mash in the dough. I really wanted to put so much more, but it would squeeze out and then you just get a mess instead of these boiled dumplings. Messes are no good.
On the right you can see the dumplings sealed with water. (It's a shadow there, by the way, the plate was not about to fall off the table. Because if it were, it would have. Clumsy is my middle name.)
Next I boiled them for 8 minutes and thought about putting them on paper towel when they were done, but I really dislike shredded paper towel in my food. So I used a new clean tea towel. That worked pretty well.
Finally, the moment we are waiting for.... BUTTER.
You see, they aren't just boiled, but fried in butter. I fried the onions in butter first, if you remember, and used that butter plus MORE BUTTER to finish them off.
Don't believe they need a minute each side, they need like 10 seconds each side.
My kitchen was a disaster and so was my work table, but they were great.
I encourage you to try them.
Depending on the kind of cheese you use, we're only talking about 2 dollars for the pierogies plus the price of cheese. A couple more for the kielbasa. Super cheap and super good.
--Vicky a.k.a The Clumsy Chef (see what I did there?)
Tonight's recipe is courtesy of Food Network:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pierogies-with-potato-and-cheese-filling-recipe.html
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