The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.
Ah pierogies! A food that is near and dear to my heart. In high school I would often go to the “German Deli” to get pierogies sauteed in onions and bacon as my lunch. Like all.the.time. They were so good. The deli is actually called Reither’s and is on Church St south of Wellesley (yes, I went to high school in the heart of Toronto’s gaybourhood).
Since then I’ve bought frozen pierogies at the supermarket and have made them myself. So when I saw the challenge was to make pierogies it was definitely within my comfort zone. I usually associate pierogies with comfort food and cold weather. One of my favourite lunches on a gray winter’s day is pierogies with a bowl of cream of mushroom soup. I realized right away that I needed a filling that might take my mind off of winter and make it a bit more summery.
While at the farmers market I scanned the stalls looking for inspiration and settled on zucchini. I also happened to buy some sheep’s milk yogurt from Monforte Dairy that I thought might make a good addition.
For the dough I used the dough from my fave Canadian Living recipe. For the filling I improvised. I had some leftover mashed potatoes that I figured I’d used up. I grated some zucchini and sauteed it with a bit of garlic, salt and pepper. Then I combined the zucchini mixture with the potatoes and added a bit of yogurt until creamy. Then began the “fun” process of making the perogies themselves. And because I thought I was supposed to post on the 13th, I started making the perogies at about 9:30PM on the 12th. Needless to say I felt silly when Mardi from eat.live.travel.write. pointed out that the post has to go up on the 14th. Such is life.
I boiled and then panfried my pierogies with some sliced onion. The little buggers turned out well if I do say so myself. The zucchini flavour was subtly but I enjoyed the creaminess and the tang from the yogurt. Something about these pierogies seemed a lot lighter than I’ve made in the past. I would definitely make these again.
Zucchini-Stuffed Pierogies
Ingredients:
Dough:
3 cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) salt
1 egg
3/4 cup (175 mL) (approx) water
4 tsp (20 mL) vegetable oil
Filling:
1 tbsp (15 mL) butter
2 gloves sliced garlic
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup (250 mL) cold mashed potatoes
13/4 cup yogurst (I used sheep’s milk, optional)
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) pepper
Preparation:
Dough: In bowl, combine flour with salt. Beat together egg, water and oil; stir into flour mixture to make soft but not sticky dough that holds together in ball. If necessary, add 1 tbsp (15 mL) water at a time, being careful not to make dough sticky.
Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface; knead about 10 times or just until smooth. Halve dough; cover with plastic wrap or damp cloth. Let rest for 20 minutes.
Filling: Meanwhile, in skillet, heat butter over medium heat; add garlic and sautee for a minute. Add the zucchini and cook until tender. Transfer to bowl and mix in potatoes, yogurt, salt and pepper.
Working with one portion of dough at a time and keeping remaining dough covered, roll out on lightly floured surface to about 1/16-inch (1.5 mm) thickness. Using 3-inch (8 cm) round cutter, cut dough into rounds.
Place 1 tsp (5 mL) filling on each round. Lightly moisten edge of one half of dough with water; pinch edges together to seal and crimp attractively. Place on cloth; cover with damp cloth to prevent drying out. Repeat with remaining portion of dough.
In large pot of boiling salted water, cook perogies, in batches, for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until they float to top, stirring gently to prevent perogies from sticking together or to bottom of pot. With slotted spoon, remove to colander to drain.
In large heavy skillet, melt butter over medium heat; cook onion for about 5 minutes or until golden. Add perogies and toss to coat and warm through. Serve with sour cream.
(Recipe adapted from Canadian Living)
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They sounds lovely. This was my first experience with pierogies, and it was very enjoyable. I tried whole wheat dough, which was quite successful, though I did find it hard to roll out thinly. Nice work!
These look GREAT Tonya and definitely a lot lighter for summer than the traditional kind. I love those flavours in the filling! Well done
@WCulinaryNet @wonTONfm Read the word pierogie! Indeed, great looking pierogies! RT http://bit.ly/bivKxb
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RT @foodiePrints: @WCulinaryNet @wonTONfm Read the word pierogie! Indeed, great looking pierogies! RT http://bit.ly/bivKxb
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Very nicely done! They look so perfect and your filling sounds delicious!
Your zucchini filling sounds amazing! I really want to try these!! Nice twist making this cold weather food into something summery!!
Beautiful pierogi and great idea for the filling!
Thank you for taking part this month
Cheers. Anula.
Great job! Your filling sounds delicious!!
I never made my own pierogies before! Gotta try ’em!!! Thanks!
Wow! Nice work! Those look amazing!
Looks delicious, but please don’t make it a double plural… Pierogi is already plural (in Polish)… a single would be pierog. 😉
you learn something new every day. Thanks!