How do you get a cute, carb-loving, half-Polish guy to marry you? You feed him a batch of homemade potato-cheese pierogies and wait for the proposal in 3…2…1…
Ingredients:
(Makes about 24 pierogis)
For the Dough
2 large eggs
1 ⁄ 2 cup (4 ounces, 113 grams) sour cream or plain Greek yogurt (full-fat, reduced-fat, or nonfat)
3 tablespoons (1 1 ⁄ 2 ounces, 43 grams) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 cups (8 1 ⁄ 2 ounces, 240 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Filling
1 ⁄ 2 pound (8 ounces, 227 grams) Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1 medium or 2 small), cut into 2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon plus 1 ⁄ 4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 ⁄ 4 cup (1 ounce, 28 grams) finely shredded Cheddar cheese
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk
Carmelized onions
2 tablespoons (1 ounce, 28 grams) unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion halved lengthwise and thinly sliced into strips along the grain
1 ⁄ 4 cup (or more) chicken or beef broth
For serving
Sauerkraut for serving (optional)
Sour cream for serving (optional)
Preparation:
Dough
This recipe is a wonderfully forgiving dough for beginning bakers. There’s no finicky yeast to deal with and thus no rising time, just a brief resting period so the flour can become supple and smooth.
If you don’t measure your ingredients by weight, it’s important to use the spoon-and-sweep method instead of dipping a measuring cup directly into the flour. When you scoop with a measuring cup, the flour is compacted into the cup, adding up to 1 extra ounce of weight (1 ⁄ 4 cup of volume) to each cupful. That translates to too much flour in the dough and tough, chewy pierogies. So either grab a kitchen scale and make life easier, or lightly make a U-shape in the flour with a spoon, then use the spoon to fill the measuring cup, leveling excess flour with a knife.
Whisk 1 egg, sour cream or yogurt, butter, and salt in a bowl. Add flour to a large bowl. Gently stir wet ingredients into flour. The dough will initially be very dry and shaggy, seeming as if it will never come together, but have no fear: Keep stirring, and it will pull itself into shape.
Once the dough starts to come together, press and smash it against the sides of the bowl with your palms, picking up dough bits and essentially kneading it within the bowl until it forms a ball.
Tip dough and any remaining shaggy flakes out onto a clean work surface or Roul’Pat. Knead until smooth, about 1 minute. Cover dough with the bowl and let rest 15 minutes.
Whisk remaining egg and water in a small bowl for egg wash.
Filling
Place potatoes in a medium saucepan. Add enough water to cover potatoes by 2 inches. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat. Uncover and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to the pan. Place over low heat and stir for about 30 seconds to remove excess moisture. Run potatoes through a ricer or food mill fitted with a fine disk into a bowl. Stir in remaining 1 ⁄ 4 teaspoon salt, cheese, and 1 tablespoon cream; consistency should be firm enough to roll into a ball. If the filling is too dry, stir in additional 1 tablespoon cream.
Roll out dough and stamp into rounds.
Place 1 teaspoon filling on each dough round; brush with egg wash, fold, pinch, and seal as directed.
Onions
Tip: Onions can be made up to 5 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Reheat in a skillet over low heat before serving.
Melt butter in a medium skillet over low heat. Stir in onion and cook for about 10 minutes, or until it starts to soften.
Add 1 ⁄ 4 cup broth and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are very soft and deeply browned, about 1 1 ⁄ 2 to 2 hours.
If onions start to burn before they’re fully caramelized, add 1 to 2 tablespoons additional broth as needed.
Deep-fry, boil, and/or pan-fry pierogies. Serve immediately with caramelized onions, sauerkraut, and/or sour cream.
This recipe was excerpted from “Pierogi Love: A New Take on an Old-World Comfort Food,” by Casey Barber, and reprinted with permission from Gibbs Smith.