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Bonjour my friends, I’m Frankie and welcome to Club Foody! I’ve always enjoyed trying new dishes, experimenting with different
flavors and ingredients. That is when I knew I was a foody! A few decades ago, one of my
girlfriends and I went to a pub and tried something we never had before. Oh my, we just
loved them! A couple weeks later, I invited her over and we had them again…
In today’s episode, I’ll show you how to make my Pierogi Ruskie! These
tasty potato cheese dumplings are so amazing! This is a delicious comfort food and a staple
of Eastern European cuisine. Easy to make, they should be on your menu sometime soon...
So my friends, let’s get cooking!
There are a few steps to make this recipe so let’s start by making the dough. In the
bowl of a stand mixer, we’ll add light sour cream, lukewarm milk I’d say around 110ºF
then a large egg, some vegetable oil – here I’m using canola – and ground sea salt.
Using the dough hook attachment, we’ll process on medium-high speed until the ingredients
are well blended. I should’ve beaten my egg before adding to the bowl… it would’ve
been faster so note to self. All right, next we’ll add the flour and process on low speed
until somewhat mixed. Then we’ll increase the speed to 4 and continue until the dough
gets together. It might look that there’s not enough liquid but trust me, it will eventually
cling to the hook. To make it happen, we’ll have to give it a little help by scraping
the bowl with a spatula. Surprisingly, we might have to add a little bit more flour
because it could still be sticky. I suggest starting with ½ tablespoon of flour and go
from there – it won’t need that much more. The best way to know when there’s enough
is by touching it – if it’s not sticky and bounces back a little then it’s fine.
When it gets there, we’ll knead the dough for 5 minutes on speed 5 or we can do that
by hand - just flour our work surface and knead it until smooth. Either way, when we’re
finished with it, we’ll form a ball by pulling under and wrap it in cling film. We’ll let
it sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours or if we’re not making pierogi today, we’ll
simply transfer the dough to the fridge. The next step is to start making the filling.
In a large pot, we’ll add coarse sea salt then the potatoes – mine weren’t big so
I left them whole – and we’ll fill it up with cold water, about a couple inches
or so above the spuds. We’ll bring the water to a boil and cook the potatoes until tender,
about 15 to 20 minutes. Now we’ll look after one of the topping ingredients plus the caramelized
onions. In a cold skillet, we’ll add bacon, spread it out evenly and then set the heat
to medium-low. We’ll render the meat slowly until browned and slightly crispy – let’s
not overcook the bacon. That should take about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, we’ll
scoop it up into a bowl and set aside. To the bacon fat, we’ll add butter and when
it’s melted and starts sizzling, we’ll add the onions – by the way, we’re still
on medium-low . We’ll stir until all the pieces are well coated with the fat and let
them cook for 15 minutes, stirring often. Meanwhile, our potatoes were cooked and after
draining them very well, we’ll mash them before incorporating a couple tablespoons
of butter. We’ll also add sour cream, ground sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, a little
bit of garlic salt as well as hot paprika but you can use mild instead. We’ll mash
it again until well blended. Another ingredient we’ll add is cheese. Farmer’s cheese is
the preferred one but paneer, ricotta and even goat cheese can be a delicious substitute.
We’ll mix well and set aside while we check on the onions… So it has been about 15 minutes
and we’ll sprinkle on some ground sea salt – don’t go crazy with it… remember there’s
bacon fat in the pan – and of course, freshly ground black pepper. We’ll stir well and
to accelerate the process, we’ll place the lid on and let it cook for another 20 to 25
minutes, stirring often. We want to cook them long enough so they’re extremely soft without
being mushy just like this. Now we’ll add about half of the onions to the mashed potatoes
keeping about a cup for the topping later. We’ll blend everything together and set
aside to let the filling cool off while we roll out our dough. So here’s what we’ll do...
We’ll cut the dough in half and form a ball with each piece by pulling under and
because we’ll be working with one at the time, we’ll wrap the other ball using the
same cling film to prevent it from drying out. If you want, you can always freeze the
unused portion for later. All right so we’ll flour our work surface generously and roll
out the dough pretty thin, down to 1/8th of an inch thick. From here, we’ll make circles
using a 3 ½-inch cookie cutter – you can always use a glass if you want. We’ll end
up with some trimmings and we’re not throwing it out… non, non, non, we’ll reuse them.
We’ll put it on the side with the reserved dough, wrapping it as well so it doesn’t
dry out until we’re ready to use it. Next, we’ll scoop up about 1 ½ tablespoons of
our filling and place it in the center of each circle. Now we’ll go ahead and take
one circle and stretch the dough by starting right in the center and pinch it together.
When the dough is sealed, we’ll continue by stretching, pressing and pinching going
around until we have some sort of a half-moon – make sure the dough is well sealed and
there are no air pockets. If we want to make it look nicer, we can crimp the edges… and
that’s it, easy peasy! At this stage, we can freeze them for later use. I explain everything
on the blog so check it out. Once they’re shaped, without crowding, we’ll drop the
pierogi in a pot of salted boiling water and boil them for 3 to 4 minutes. We’ll carefully
stir to prevent them from sticking. Most of the time, they will float like these but if
they don’t, it’s fine, they’re cooked. So a few minutes later, we’ll scoop them
up using a spider strainer and transfer them to a large skillet over medium heat. We’ll
cook the pierogi in a single layer in 1 tablespoon of butter until golden brown, about 3 to 4
minutes per side or until done to your liking. David and I enjoy having ours like this while
you might prefer them lighter or darker so cook them accordingly. We’ll transfer them
to warm serving plates, spoon a generous dollop of sour cream in the center, sprinkle on the
reserved caramelized onions as well as the cooked bacon and garnish with some fresh chopped chives.
And my friends, these are our Pierogi Ruskie! This is what I call an old fashioned comfort
food! These potato cheese dumplings are so tasty and an amazing recipe to have on hand!
It may be a simple dish but it’s so satisfying... certainly worth the time it takes to make them!
I hope you give it a try soon and be sure to visit clubfoody.com for ingredient amounts,
directions and more info… Until next time my friends, bon appétit!
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