Pierogi Pasta

Pierogi are one of the most typical dishes of Polish cuisine . They basically consist of stuffed pasta of different varieties. You could say that they are quite similar to ravioli.

Pierogi are a semicircular filled pasta similar to the dumpling we all know, although cooked in water like ravioli, but fried in plenty of butter and/or oil.

A pieróg can be filled with a multitude of different ingredients, as I mentioned before (meat, fruit, cabbage, etc.), but in this case we are going to focus on the traditional filling of cheese, onion and mashed potatoes .

To make sure the filling for these pierogi is just right, you should boil the potatoes the day before . This will dry out the mashed potatoes and not make the pierogi dough moist. A great trick is to cook the potatoes in the microwave. This saves time and also means that the potatoes don't turn out as watery as when boiled. If you choose this method, you just have to wash the potatoes (with the skin), wrap them in plastic wrap (microwave-safe), prick each one a couple of times with the tip of a knife , place them in a microwave-safe container and heat for 7 to 10 minutes. The potatoes will be ready when you insert a knife into the potatoes without any problems.

On the other hand, the cheese that we are going to use will be cottage cheese or ricotta (the Polish cheese that is used is difficult to find) since these cheeses are quite moist, we must try to make them as dry as possible. To do this, we can place the cottage cheese in a fine mesh for 24 hours in the refrigerator and let it lose the excess water. This way we will have perfect pierogi.

Each pierog should be filled with plenty of filling . Don't be afraid to put in enough filling, even if it seems that the diameter (8 cm) of the dough won't be enough to close it, don't worry, the dough is very elastic and will close perfectly . You shouldn't be afraid of the thinness of this dough (3 mm), the thinner it is, the better they will cook and, if you have a rolling pin with measuring discs , this process will be a piece of cake.

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Ingredients

For the filling:

• 250 g cooked potato (see introduction)
• 250 g drained ricotta cheese (see introduction)
• 2 medium onions cut into thin cubes
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Dill to taste
• A handful of sea salt
• A pinch of pepper

For the dough:

• 300 g of common wheat flour (9% protein)
• 1 L egg at room temperature
• 20 g melted butter
• 120 ml of warm water
• A pinch of sea salt

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until golden. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl , mash the cooked and peeled potatoes with the cheese, chopped dill, salt and pepper. Once the onions are golden, add them to this mixture and mix well. Form about 25 balls and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour and make a volcano. In the centre, add the egg, melted butter and salt. Knead with a wooden spatula while slowly pouring in the warm water. Once all the ingredients have been mixed, knead with your hands for 5 minutes until you obtain a soft, elastic dough. Let it rest, covered, for a few minutes.
3. We divide the dough into 4 parts and cover 3 of them with a cloth so that they don't dry out. On a lightly floured surface we stretch one of the parts of the dough with the help of a rolling pin , leaving a thickness of 3 mm. We cut circles of about 8 cm and place a ball of filling in each of them. To close the pierogi we just have to place it in the palm of our hand and stretch it slightly leaving a half-moon shape. To seal the pierogi we can pinch the edges as you can see in the images or if it's easier for you, use a fork. We reserve them on a floured surface so that they don't stick and are easy to handle.
4. Place a cast iron pan on a very low heat with about 50 g of butter and let it melt together with a sprig of dill. Set aside.
5. In a pot with boiling water and salt, we will put the pierogi in batches. At first, they will be submerged in the water, but once they float, we must cook them for exactly 2 minutes. After this time, we will take them out and put them in the pan with the butter.
6. We cook the pierogi in butter until the bottom is lightly browned. We serve the pierogi sprinkled with melted butter, chopped fresh dill and a few flakes of salt.

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