Pierogi Party!

Yes, it was a pierogi party at our house. By that I mean that the flour was flyin', I was cookin' it up and my "sous chef" was assisting.

Yeah, he gets pretty nosy when he smells something good.

I will admit outright that I am not a baker. I don't like to bake, mostly because I don't have much patience and exact measuring is tedious to me. Having to make dough for pierogi was a bit anxiety producing for me. It worked out okay for my first time, though. It seemed to be a basic dough of flour, egg, salt, and butter. The 2 inch circles could be cut out with a drinking glass and it was time to get stuffing.

The book I've been using, Signature Dishes From Around the World, tells of how this is a traditional Polish dish and the recipe calls for a traditional filling without meat for Christmas Eve. The filling is simply ricotta cheese, an egg and chives.

Once the filling is all mixed up, the trick is putting it in the pierogi and sealing them up into cute half moon shapes. Those of you who bake probably have some tips for how to do this (Please share!), but being a novice I just crimped them the best I could. I also crimped a fork around the edges because that seemed like a good idea I had seen somewhere?  Next, it's into some boiling water. They weren't as pretty as the book's picture or as pretty as Mrs. T's, but it would have to do.

The hubs and I both love anything you put with peppers and onions, so I crisped up the pierogi with those and the result was a pretty good dish. Next time I hope they're a little prettier, but hey they tasted better than Mrs. T's.