pierogis

Poor little Julia came home with a fever today, but she was all about eating some pierogis before passing out early. Poor little thing was fading in and out as I made them. These are time-intensive, so be prepared to be in your kitchen in short stretches with frequent breaks for resting and cooling. I enjoy being able to walk away from dinner, or I try to do too much and I get stressed out about dishes when dinner's not ever ready yet. It's good to take a breath.

I've made these for years, since I first had Julia. I stuff them with mashed potato/cheddar, and cabbage/onion. Bacon is excellent in the cabbage, but I wanted to save mine for breakfast, and added the oil to the onions I was sauteing instead of raw bacon chunks, so meh. Wasn't meant to be tonight. While the potatoes boil and cabbage cooks with the garlic and onion, I make the dough, which is simple. Take half a container of sour cream (a cup/8oz), add three eggs and mix, then add three cups of flour, a little salt, and a teaspoon of baking powder.  Divide the dough in half and roll it out, then cut circles out of it with a biscuit cutter or cup, whatever's handy. Put the dough circles on a plate, slightly overlapping. Don't place directly on top of each other, or they'll stick together. Stick them in the fridge for fifteen minutes, do the same for the fillings. Mashed potatoes is easy, it's butter and salt and pepper and a little milk, easy peasy. Time for a break :)

Boil a little bit of water for the pierogis and get the dough and filling out of the fridge. Roll out the circles again and fill with a spoonful of filling, then fold the dough over into a half-moon and seal with a fork. You can do this in your hand too, but I use the fork because I always tear mine. Plop a dozen at a time in the boiling water for a couple minutes, until they float and feel firm when you take them out. Take out with a slotted spoon, put into a tupperware (now you can pile them on top) and stick them in the fridge before filling your second batch. I got three batches out of tonight's dough following this recipe exactly, or about 35 pierogis. Take another break :)

Preheat the oven to like 250 or so, not too high. Once all the pierogis are boiled and chilled, fry them in butter and onion until they're golden on each side. Again, fry in batches: take out the first tupperware that went in, and fit them all in there. Don't leave them unattended or they'll burn, and the process is so tedious it sucks to lose one like this. All that effort, wasted. When they're crispy and golden, place them on a cooling rack resting on an oven pan and stick them in the oven so they'll stay warm for you. And that's pierogis!

I like to dip with sour cream, and I've been really taken with horseradish and sriracha lately, so I added both to mine, and did not regret it. It might be too intense for you, though, and plain is just as good. Share with friends, save some for packed lunch or midnight snacks, they're decent cold, somewhat. You can nuke them to reheat, but if you can, stick them in the oven so they stay crispy for you. I feel enriched after making these, maybe it's all the steps involved? It's one of the more elaborate meals I make, and I don't make it often, but I am also broke as hell, like broke as HELL right now, and pierogis are low-cost/high-yield. Think about it: potato, cabbage, flour, egg, onion, garlic, oil, sour cream. Salt and pepper. Cheap as hell. You could get all that for under $15 and have a bunch of leftovers, as well as extra filling as a side dish.

No matter how strapped for cash you find yourself, please buy fresh garlic. It is important in food, I hate cooking without it, and usually don't. And I used a new peeling technique for my head of garlic today: take two metal bowls (I used cake rounds), cut the head off the garlic, then place into one pan while mashing the bulb with the other pan to separate the cloves. Invert the squishing pan and hold tight, then shake the shit out of it, like shake the SHIT out of it, and voila. Peeled garlic, swear to god. It's almost too good to be true!

Enjoy pierogis, and buy a head of garlic if there's none in your kitchen. You embarrass me, I paid fifty cents for mine and it takes every dish, EVERY DISH, to a higher culinary level. Appreciate your food, use garlic. And sea salt. Yes it matters, go buy a big ass box for like a buck and stick it in a nice bottle by your stove. Salt taps into the potential of foods, I see that now. You don't taste the salt when you add the right ratio, without it, you can't taste the food, if that makes sense. Salt does the dish justice! Garlic is aromatic and endearing! Oh man! Pierogi frenzy!