PIEROGIES from the Polish Chef

 3-4 large Russett potatoes in water for 30 minutes til they are fork tender.  Remove from water, cool and peel.

Dice 1-1/2 cups onion and grill slightly in 4 T butter, til translucent

When potatoes have been peeled rice or mash.  Add: 1/2 t salt, 1/4 t pepper, 1 cup Ricotta cheese.

Mix well until smooth.   Add the onions and mix well.  Place in dish and cover.  Refrigerate.

DOUGH:

4 cups flour, 1/2 t salt

add 2 eggs to 1 Cup water and mix together well and then add to the dry ingredients.  Knead til smooth but not very long. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest 10 minutes

Cut dough in half, wrapping the one half.

flour your board, and roll out evenly but not too thin since you will be manipulating the dough around the potato.

Cut into 3" circles with cookie cutter or even a glass rim.

Using a 1 oz disher or a spoon, place a 'ball' of the potato into the middle of each 3" circle.  Flour your fingers a bit and bring up the edges around tightly so the filling doesn't come out during the boiling.

Boil a pan of water and put a little bit of oil on the tray for after the boiling so they don't stick

Drop the pierogies gently into the water when they rise to the top continue boiling for 3 minutes and remove to the oiled tray.

You can eat them right then OR better, slice more onions and brown in butter.  Fry the pierogies in butter and then add the cooked onions  Serve with sour cream

My polish friends also use saurkraut as a filling sometimes. One mom puts blueberries with sugar as a filling.  She does the same with blueberries mixed with sugar as filling

Margaret Melieux's Pierogi dough recipe

 500 g. flour

1 t. salt

80 g. butter

200 ml hot water

Place all in a stand mixer or food processor and combine. It will be a softer dough, maybe a bit sticky.

Continue to make pierogis as normal.

Margaret doesn't roll out the dough but pinches off a ball, flattens it out with her hands to form a circle and fills with blueberries or apples slices.  She  cooks them in boiling water as you would with potatoes/cheese/etc.  Sprinkles with sugar.  She said she rolls the apple slices in cinnamon sugar and sometimes adds sour cream to the blueberries.

Leczo or Margaret Melieux"s POLISH Stew

 Pronounced Lech'aa

Chopped Onions

Green Peppers

Zucchini

4-5 Tomatoes

Smoked Sausage

With a little oil in skillet, cook the onions a bit.  Add the other veggies and sausage with a little salt and cook on LO for about 30 minutes.  Allow the tomatoes to make a bit of sauce.

Serve plain or over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.