I made pierogi on Thursday night for dinner. It's easy to make, but a lot of work, so make sure that this is a dinner everyone pitches in to make. The filling and dough are standard and pretty easy; it's the assembly, boiling, and frying that's difficult.
The filling is potatoes that you boil til they are fork tender, drain and return to the pan to remove excess water, and rice; cream cheese; onions that are cooked til just tender; and salt and pepper to taste. The dough is just butter, water, flour, and eggs.
You then take the dough and divide it into four balls. This makes it easier to roll out and assemble. You take one ball and put it onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to about an eighth of an inch thickness. You then take a cookie cutter or other round object that's about three inches in diameter and punch rounds out. Take a teaspoon of filling and place in the center of each dough round. Fold one side of the dough and pinch it closed with moistened fingers. You then boil them for one to two minutes or until they float to the top. You then transfer them immediately to a skillet and brown them.
I served my pierogi with kielbasa, a Polish sausage that I think complement my pierogi perfectly, and sauerkraut. Unfortunately, my sausage maker is forty years old and needs a new switch on it, so I had to buy my kielbasa from the supermarket. For the sauerkraut, I bought a can of it, drained it, and added caraway seeds, gin, and sugar. I let this heat through and voila! I have amazing sauerkraut; even my friend who isn't fond of sauerkraut will eat it this way.
All in all, everything came out better than the last few times I've made them. As the Beatles said, "It's getting better all the time."
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