Here is one of my absolute favorite winter recipies...

Pirogies!

I made some with a traditional potato/cheese filling, and my bf and I made up three new fillings:

*Mushroom rosemary

*Shrimp and emmenthal cheese with lemon

*Zuchinni and goat cheese

Here are the recipies...

My grandma's Pirogi Dough:

2 cups flour

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup water

salt

Put flour in a bowl and make a well. Put salt into well (use enough salt! Don't skimp!). Pour eggs into well and begin to mix, adding water slowly. Make sure you are slowly incorporating the flour. Mix until blended, then turn dough out onto a VERY WELL FLOURED surface. COVER your hands in flour and knead until dough is a smooth, elastic ball. Cover dough and let rest for a while (like an hour or two. If you're in a rush, it doesn't have to rest.)

Potato Filling:

Some potatoes (six big ones(?))

Chopped scallions

500g Cottage cheese

Lots of salt and pepper (to your taste)

Boil potatoes and roghly mash. You can peel them or not. Add scallions and cottage cheese and mix. Add salt and pepper.


Mushroom filling:

Very very finely diced mushrooms (I use fresh shittake and button, use whatever is in season)

Chopped rosemary (or thyme)

1 clove minced garlic

Sautée ingredients in butter over medium high heat until mushrooms have reduced in bulk. You can throw in a bit of 35% cream once they're cooked if you like. Add salt to taste.


Shrimp filling:

Small cooked shrimp

Grated emmenthal cheese

Zest of one lemon

Chopped scallions

Lots of black pepper

Mix ingredients. Add a little bit of mashed potato if you want.


Zuchinni filling:

Diced zuchinni

Minced onion

Soft goat cheese

1 tbs Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and pepper

Sautée zuchinni and onion in butter until soft. Add vinegar and cook a few minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper. Do not add goat cheese yet.


To make pirogies:

Cut you dough in half. Roll out on portion of dough on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. Roll until it is about 2 mm thick. Cut out circles with a large glass.

To stuff, simply put a blob of filling in the centre of each circle of dough. Fold dough over and seal the edges closed with your fingers. Seal them well, or your pirogies will explode during cooking! If the dough won't close, use a bit of water to seal the edges.

For the zuchinni filling, I stuff pirogies with a blob of fillinf and a blob of goat cheese.

Boil pirogies for about three minutes in salted water. When they are cooked, they will float to the surface.

Serve with plain yogurt or sour cream. I prefer them boiled, but some people fry them after boiling. You can fry them with onions if you like.

*Pierogis are a lot of work but they are DEELISH and they freeze really well. I always make three batches of dough and make extra pirogies to freeze. Just boil them, freeze them on a cookie tray, then transfer to ziplock bags. To serve them, just boil for a few minutes.

*My grandma also made plum pirogies... I've never tried them, but I'd love to. If you have a recipe for them, please post it!!!