Nanas Pierogi Filling Recipes

Steps:

• Pass farmer's cheese and cooked potatoes separately through a food grinder or food processor.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook mushrooms and onions until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Combine farmer's cheese, potatoes, mushroom mixture, sour cream, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Mix together and set filling aside.
• Place flour on a clean work surface and make a well in the center. Crack both eggs into the well. Add butter and a few tablespoons of the warm water. Mix with your hands, gradually adding more warm water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as you go. Knead well, continuing to add more water as needed. Knead until dough is soft and smooth, adding more flour to the work surface as needed.
• Cut off 1/4 of the dough and roll out to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut out circles using a glass or a round pastry cutter, saving the excess dough for your next batch.
• Fill each dough circle with 1 teaspoon of filling. Fold dough over into a half-moon shape and pinch edges together to seal. Cover with a clean dish towel so pierogi won't dry out and repeat with remaining dough and filling.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Add the pierogi in batches, about 20 at a time, and cook until they float to the surface, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain in a strainer. Repeat with the remaining pierogi.

Steps:

• 1. Mix the flour and salt in a deep mixing bowl.
• 2. Add egg, oil and water to make a medium soft dough.
• 3. Knead dough on a floured surface until the dough is smooth. Do NOT over knead dough or it will become tough!
• 4. Divide your dough into two parts and cover them. Allow to set covered for at least 15 minutes.
• 5. Prepare Filling: Boil potatoes until they are soft. Drain and return to pot.
• 6. Melt butter and oil on medium heat, add onion and garlic and cook about 2 minutes. Just till onions are softened. Lower your heat and cook until onions are lightly browned or carmelized. Season with salt and pepper. ( You can add more butter while cooking to avoid the onions burning)
• 7. Add onions once they are cooled to potatos. Then add cheese. Mash until all large potato lumps are gone and cheese and onions are blended into potatoes. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Set aside.
• 8. Prepare pierogies: Roll the dough out thin on a floured surface. Cut circles using a large biscuit cutter, or the mouth of a large glass. Place a spoonful of potatoe and cheese filling in each circle and fold over to make a half circle. Make sure no filling is near the edges. Press the edges together with your fingers to seal each pierogi. Making sure they are sealed well so filling doesnt come out while cooking. Put filled pierogi on a floured surface and cover with a tea towel to keep them from drying up. ( you can seal them with a little water & press down on edges with a fork to help keep them from coming apart while cooking)
• 9. Cooking Pierogies: COOKING: Drop a few pierogies (about 6)into a large quantity of rapidly boiling salted water. (I add oil to the water to help prevent them from sticking together) Do not cook too many at a time or they will not cook correctly. Stir VERY gently with a wooden spoon to separate pierogies and to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pot or each other. Boil for 3-4 minutes or until they are puffed up. Remove pierogies from water with a slotted spoon or skimmer and transfer to a colander to drain completely. Transfer to a deep dish, and generously add melted butter to prevent them from sticking.
• 10. Serve with melted butter and fried onions To reheat: Pan fry in butter until browned and serve with onions or scallions, or deep fry and brush with butter before serving (I love them this way) Freezing:If you choose not to cook all the pierogies at this time, you can refrigerate uncooked pierogies for several days or freeze them for several months.

Steps:

• Mix flour, water, and egg and salt together. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Cover dough with bowl and let rest for 30 minutes.
• Boil potatoes until soft. Drain and rinse. Add cheese. Let stand a few minutes until cheese melts. Then fold potatoes and cheese together.
• Roll out dough about 1/8-inch thick. Cut into 3-inch squares. Fill each square of dough with one teaspoon of potato and cheese filling. Fold in half and pinch ends together to seal. Drop in hot boiling water and simmer for 8 minutes. Drain and fry in butter a few minutes until heated through. Chopped onions may be added to the butter, if desired. Salt and pepper, to taste.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Cut in the butter using a fork until pieces are very small. Stir in the water and mix until well blended. If the dough is too sticky, stir in a little more flour until you can knead it on a floured surface. Knead the dough for 2 to 3 minutes. Cover, and let rest for 10 or 15 minutes.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into circles using a cookie cutter or large glass. Set aside while you prepare the filling.
• To make the filling, prepare the mashed potato flakes according to package directions. Set aside. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions; cook and stir until soft and transparent. Remove from the heat, and mix in the mashed potatoes.
• Place one tablespoon of the pierogi filling onto each circle of dough. Fold circles over and pinch the edges to seal tightly so that no filling will escape while they boil. They can be frozen at this time if you like.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully drop several perogies into the water. They are done when they float to the top. Continue the process with remaining perogies. You can also fry the perogies in some butter with onion before serving if you like.

Steps:

• Prepare the dough: Add the flour and salt to a large bowl; whisk to combine. In a small saucepan, heat 1/2 cup water and the butter over medium-high until butter is melted, about 3 minutes. Pour the buttery liquid into the flour gradually, stirring it in as you add it. (The dough will be quite crumbly and flaky at this point, like a biscuit dough.) Stir in the egg until combined then move the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, 5 to 7 minutes. Cover the dough with a dampened towel or plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Prepare the filling: Peel the potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Add them to a large pot, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt and cover with cold water by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high and continue to cook at a simmer until potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes.
• While the potatoes cook, prepare the onions: In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high. Add the onions, season generously with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden-brown and softened, about 12 minutes. Set aside about 1 cup of onions for garnish and add the rest to a medium bowl.
• Transfer the cooked potatoes to a colander to drain, then transfer to the medium bowl with the onions. Add the cheese, stir to combine, season generously with salt and pepper, then let cool.
• Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil over high.
• Prepare the wrappers: Cut the dough into two even pieces. (You'll want to leave one piece under the towel to stay moist while you work with the other piece.) You'll also want a small bowl of flour, a small bowl of water and a towel handy for keeping your hands clean. Dust some flour onto a baking sheet (for holding the pierogi) and your work surface, then roll out one portion of dough until 1/8-inch thick. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter or inverted glass, punch 12 to 15 disks of dough. (Save and refrigerate the scraps to boil as a rustic pasta, in soup or another use.)
• Assemble the pierogi: Working with one disk at time, spoon a scant tablespoon of filling onto the middle of it. Fold the dough in half to enclose the filling, bringing the edges together to form a crescent shape. Pinch the two sides together at the top, then work your way down on both sides, pinching the dough over the filling and pushing in the filling as needed, making sure the potato mixture does not break the seal. If needed, you can dip your fingertip into water and moisten the dough in spots as needed to help the two sides adhere together.
• To form a rustic pattern on the curved seal, pinch the rounded rim underneath using your pointer finger and middle finger and press an indentation on top with your thumb, working your way along the rounded rim. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. (If you've gotten some filling on your fingers, dip your fingertips into the bowl of water then dry them off on the towel.)
• Repeat with remaining disks, then repeat the entire process with the remaining portion of dough. You'll want to work fairly quickly, as the pierogi can be harder to seal if they start to dry out. (If cooking the pierogi at a later point, transfer them on the baking sheet to the freezer until frozen solid, then transfer the pierogi to a resealable bag and freeze.)
• To cook the pierogi, add a single layer of pierogi to the pot of boiling water. Let them cook until they rise to the surface, about 2 minutes, then cook another 2 to 3 minutes until puffy. (With frozen dumplings, you will need to increase the cooking time by a couple of minutes.) Use a slotted spoon to transfer cooked dumplings to a colander to drain, then boil remaining dumplings.
• If you want to pan-fry your pierogi, working in batches, melt 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high until crackling. Add a few boiled pierogi in a single layer to avoid overcrowding, and cook until crisp and golden, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining pierogi, adding butter as needed.
• Serve hot. Top with any browned butter from the pan, warmed reserved onions, sour cream and herbs.