Sorry for the delay in getting the Perogie recipes up here.

We traditionally make this (I should say, Slobo and the kids make this) during an all day weekend event. Freezing about 40 at a time for later use. The last batch they made, included fresh chopped parsley from the garden. It was so very good. He’s used roasted garlic also in the past, which is awesome in just about anything!!

Perogie Dough

* I have a note on the recipe card – “Ichef.com Elizabeth Baird” so that is probably where Slobo got the dough recipe.

Yield: 30 perogies

3 cups flour (all purpose – we like unbleached)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
3/4 cup water (approximate)
4 tsp. vegetable oil (Slobo says he uses Olive Oil)

Combine flour and salt in one bowl.
Another bowl, beat together egg, water and oil.
Stir into flour mixture to make a soft and Not – Sticky dough. Just til it holds together in a ball.
If needed, add 1tsp. water at a time to get to that state.
Turn out onto lightly floured surface.
Knead about 10 times or until smooth.
Halve the dough. Cover with plastic wrap or damp cloth.
Let rest for 20 minutes. (Hint – when making dough – you let it rest to give the gluten a chance to relax. If you don’t it will fight you the entire time you are trying to shape it or work with it. It’s like a child – If it fights you – Let it rest!)

Perogie Filling and Cooking

Yield: enough to fill the 30 perogies

Note: This is where the creative cooks in our house go wild. Just about anything that would go with a potato – they’ve tried it! I’m sure there are some who fill it with just about anything else – like I would love some cream cheese and crab! Yum! Slobo – you listening??? Polish Crab Rangoon?

1 tbsp. butter + 1/3 cup finely chopped onion

Heat butter and cook onion, med. heat @ 3-5 minutes ’til tender.

Transfer to a bowl and add:

1 cup cold mashed potatoes (Use the real thing – not flaked You can use leftover, but we like to boil or bake a
couple of extras and refrigerate for this use later. You can even leave skin on if baked and chop that in too!)
3/4 cup cheddar cheese; shredded
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Working with one portion of dough
Roll out on floured surface (lightly floured) to 1/16″ thickness. (We use a pasta machine – from 1 to 5 – now. Tho we have rolled it in the past. Just takes more time.)
Using 3″ round cutter – cut dough into rounds. (We use a small glass cup lightly dusted with flour)
Place 1 tsp. filling made above on each round (This is the kids’ job)
LIghtly moisten the edge of 1/2 of the round with water on your fingertip, fold over, and pinch edges closed. Crimp with a fork and Make Sure the edges are sealed tightly!!!
(If you don’t it will boil out in the next steps – the kids do this part too. They are really good at it! All that playdough experience!)

Place each folded and crimped perogie on a covered plate and repeat until the dough is gone.

Cooking the Perogies
In large pot of salted boiling water, cook perogies in bathes for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes util they float to the top – Stirring gently to make sure they don’t stick together or to the bottom of the pan. Remove to colander to drain.

At this point, they can be frozen in bags of 40-50 if used as a future main course or 20-30 as a side dish.

If frozen, thaw.

In large heavy skillet – melt 2 tbsp. butter. Cook 1 onion – sliced for about 5 minutes ’til golden.
Add perogies and toss to coat and warm through.

Note: The perogie dough can be made earlier in the day and set aside to be run through the pasta machine or rolled out later that evening. We have made it and frozen it, but it’s difficult to get it to thaw and not be sticky. The boiled, not fried, state of the perogies however make wonderful freezer additions. If you need smaller meal sizes, like there’s only one or two people that eat at your house, you can lay them out on cookie sheets and seperately freeze them. Once frozen, pop them into freezer bags and you can take out however many you need when you need them. See? No need to think you can’t cook just because you live alone!!!! Just about anything can be frozen in individual serving sizes and finish the cooking later. Lasagna works great that way too!

Happy rolling, stuffing and cooking. If you try a new filling or dough combination, let us know! We would love to hear new ideas!

Cost to make? About $3.50 to make 30 – That would leave each of us about 6. In our house, that is just a wetting of the appetite. Generally the kids have devoured all but the last plateful before Slobo and I get a chance to sit and share the last plate of them. So, we usually make 90 for a main course. Now you can see why, making any store away – has to be an all day event – and everyone has to help.

Of course, the cost goes up as you add stuff, but not very much and it still falls into the under $10.00 dinner range as a main meal. Thus far – our favorite combo is parsley in the dough, with 3-4 cloves roasted garlic and ham in the potato filling.

Helpful hint: All of our kids can be very picky eaters. One would only eat meat, the other two would only eat veggies. The perogies were our first meeting point for both sides, since we could ’sneak in’ certain foods, they would devour them – exclaiming how much they liked them – then we could present the broccolli, ham, shrimp, etc… to them. We’ve won over a few battles the pocketed perogie way. So – make a pocket or two for your picky eater. It works!

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