They aren't that difficult. Mrs T's are good. Safeway has them all the time, and make it easy to put a dinner together quickly. And cuz they're frozen, you don't have to use the whole box. Make a small batch, and keep the rest for another day. I'm sure their taters are instant, not fresh. I had no shame serving them.BeastofBourbon wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 5:18 pm You make your own pierogis, Bill? DH and I just watched an episode of How It's Made about pierogis. Without the automation, it looks like a multi-person endeavor to do at home. Thank goodness for Mrs. T's.
If you've had success making pasta at home, you're halfway to making perogis. The dough has to be strong enough to handle poking and stretching and boiling and frying, and still be tender enough to eat. Make your dough, and while it's resting, prep your taters. They have to be boiled, mashed, mixed with whatever else you're going to include (cheese, onion, cabbage, etc), and cooled off enough to work with your hands.
When the taters are ready, make one inch balls out of your dough, laying them on a sheet pan. You can pat them between you hands, or you can roll them out on the counter, or use a pasta press, or use a tortilla press. Put a dab of taters slightly off center, and then fold the dough closed working the taters to spread them out without squeezing past the seam. Pinch the seam closed, and move the dumpling to another sheet pan. Once you get the rhythm, you'll have them banged out quickly. Now you can freeze them, or start boiling them.
I put a dozen or so in a pot of rolling boiling salted water with a few drops of olive oil on top. Once the water starts to return to a boil, I turn the heat down, and put a lid on the pot. You want a low boil. You want the heat without the physical aggitation. This is where you'll find out if you got enough air out of the pockets, and thoroughly pinched the edges. It only takes a couple minutes. When they float fat side up, they're ready for the frying pan (which you've already heated up, butter melted, oil heated, etc. You were thinking ahead, and got this done).
Now you saute them enough to get some color. Everything is already cooked. It just needs a browning. Some people like them crusty. I like them tan. I have some chopped veggies (red onions, green peppers, shaved carrots), herbs and garlic ready. Once the perogis are in the pan, I add the veggies and garlic. The herbs (oregano, parsley, basil) go in last a minute before I take the pan off the fire. When the perogis and veggies are cooked as done as you want them, serve them up.
I eat them as they are, but if I'm getting fancy, I'll add some apple sauce, or sour cream, or plain yogurt, or a chopped sausage, or chicken, or carrots, cabbage, broccolli, whatever. The dumplings can be a main event, or part of an ensemble. Totally up to you.
