Thursday, January 10, 2008

Pierogies are delicious and you should try them!

I don't know how many people out there have had pierogies as I was shocked to learn when I first moved to Arizona from PA that a lot of my friends didn't even know what they were. Maybe that was just my friends? Western PA is the land of pierogies. We had pierogies as school lunch about once a week. They were swimming in butter and fat and that was really my last memory of the little pockets of carbs. What is a pierogie? It is a little ravioli like pasta pouch filled with potatoes and cheese. You can also get them with Potatoes, cheese and onion. You can buy frozen pierogies at the grocery store and I suggest you try them if you never have.


Ingredients


Steps


You can get these in the freezer section at most stores. Pick whatever variety you like!


Get your water boiling!


Get your shallot


You can use whatever mushrooms you like, these I like because they are tasty and already chopped.


I am still in love with my Shun knife, it is amazing.


I very rarely have fresh herbs around, so when a recipe calls for it I substitute dried.


Pay no attention to the fact that there may be more butter in that pan the recipe suggests. I still can't get past the vision of my pierogies floating in butter.


Garlic joins the party even though he was not technically invited.


I was totally hungry at this point and sort of missed some steps here, but you can see that pierogie is floating and ready to go. I dried them off and threw them in the pan with the onions and mushrooms.




I let them get brown on the outside and then plated them up!


This was DELICIOUS.


The inside is just pillowy potatoey gooey goodness. This will definitely stay on my list of quick weeknight meals!

So here is a question for you guys if you have a minute to comment, have you had pierogies?
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19 comments:

  1. vixJanuary 10, 2008 at 7:21 PM

    OMG PIEROGIES ARE THE BEST

    My Polish sister-in-law introduced me to these little pockets of carbs. I loves them! We never had 'em in the Milwaukee suburb I grew up in but I also didn't have any Polish relatives til her so that may explain it. Is there a large Polish population in western PA?

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  2. PeanutJanuary 10, 2008 at 9:05 PM

    I've never had them but I love potatoes and mushrooms so I will have to try this.

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  3. LorenzaJanuary 10, 2008 at 9:34 PM

    Too bad those pierogies don't exist here because they sound and look delicious!
    have a good night
    Veronica

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  4. LaceyJanuary 10, 2008 at 9:44 PM

    Ooo... I got all excited (and confused). I thought you were posting a recipe for piroshkis (ground beef, onions, and cabbage stuffed in a bread dough bun). Those are delicious! I've never had a pierogie, but I have had a pasty, which is kind of like a giant version.

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2008 at 9:50 PM

    I'm from Pennsylvania and I'm very used to having them as a side option pretty much everywhere. At the pool, restaurants, fast food places, etc etc. I moved to Kansas and for the longest time they didn't even carry the frozen Mrs. T ones, I went NUTS. I'd ask people if they knew any grocery stores that sold pierogies and they would just give me a blank stare...lol.
    We always had them fried either with onions and butter, or deep fried by themselves. I'm so going to try the garlic, mushroom, and onion version :-D

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  6. JessicaJanuary 11, 2008 at 4:18 AM

    Growing up and living in Michigan I had never heard of pierogies. A few years ago someone at work brought them to a potluck lunch we were having, that was my first time seeing and trying one. I liked them but never attemped to make them myself. I just might have to try your rescipe for them. Looks great.

    Jessica

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  7. FerndoggleJanuary 11, 2008 at 4:57 AM

    I certainly hope you weren't expecting me to say no!! We have pierogie RESTAURANTS here!
    http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=5041&RefID=4999 is amazing.

    There is a little church on the North Side that make 500 million dozen every lent & I usually stock the freezer with at least 10 dozen. If I can figure out how to keep them frozen solid, I'll send you some!!

    Mrs. Ts are great for a quick meal too. I cook up some kielbasa (Whole Foods has the best turkey kielbasa on earth!) and add some 'kraut when I'm in the mood.

    Tell Vix, YES...there is a huge polish pop. in Western PA. Pittsburgh has it's own little Polish Hill.

    Jen

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  8. HeleneJanuary 11, 2008 at 8:39 AM

    I just discovered your blog from the Patience-please blog. Not only do the recipes look great, the blog is
    visually beautiful with those great photos.
    I am from northern virginia and experienced my first pierogie from a friend of polish descent in middle school. This area has a lot of transplanted Pittsburghers. The most recent ones I had were from our across the street neighbors, mother, when she visits from PA. Delicious cheese, as well as sauerkraut ones...plus homemade polish sausage and kraut. I'm looking forward to trying some of your recipes!

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  9. Ruby BleuJanuary 11, 2008 at 8:45 AM

    I'm Polish and have actually (as a kid) made homemade ones with my Babci (aka grannie)! I LOVE them, but my hips so don't!!! My fav are the the potato/cheese, but I also like mushroom and even the saurkraut are yummy!

    One day I'll have to dig out my grandmother's cookbook and make some!!!

    ahhhh...the memories

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  10. MeganJanuary 11, 2008 at 9:11 AM

    Yum. I love pierogies, but I don't make them very often. Probably because they are very new to my food group. My husband is Polish and had never had pierogies until our other polish friends made them for us.

    I think I have some Mrs. T's in the freezer. I should pull those out this weekend.

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  11. Lady KaosJanuary 11, 2008 at 10:21 AM

    I've never had pierogies, but I think I'll have to now!!
    Hilary

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  12. jen lafreedomJanuary 11, 2008 at 11:14 AM

    Lovely photos!
    I'm from Canada (Saskatchewan) and though we don't have much of a Polish community, we have HUGE Ukranian population, so I've been making perogies from scratch since I was little. My favourite are filled with potato and cottage cheese, served with fried onions, butter, and a big dollop of sour cream.
    Thanks for bringing perogies to the people!

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  13. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2008 at 4:02 PM

    Haha yes! I've always wanted to try pierogies and my friend and I went and bought 3 packages of them, one with cheese, onion and something else I forgot and we had a pierogie party hahaa. That was the first and last time I had it. Everybody argues about the origin of them, I say it's polish, my friend said it's ukranian.

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  14. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2008 at 9:38 PM

    Nope, I've never had them -- I've lived in Texas my whole life, so that's probably why.

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  15. PetraJanuary 12, 2008 at 9:51 AM

    I just returned from the grocery store and I'm FINALLY getting around to trying your cornish hen (it's thawing out now) and chickpea/tuna salad.

    As far as pierogies go, I have never heard of them.

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  16. norajeansJanuary 13, 2008 at 2:06 AM

    Never heard of them before your post. They look yummy though and they combine two of my favorite things: butter and carbs.

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  17. PetraJanuary 13, 2008 at 1:46 PM

    Margie here again; just wanted to let you know the cornish hen was scrumptios & my husband loved, loved, loved it!

    I even went out and bought a garlic press today; aren't you impressed?!

    Chick pea/tuna is for tomorrow!

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  18. Jen and SukiJanuary 14, 2008 at 6:11 PM

    I love pierogies! My best friend introduced me to their deliciousness when I was a teenager. I need to pick some up next time I grocery shop! Thanks for the reminder. :)

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  19. Jackson's J1 and J2January 19, 2008 at 2:37 PM

    I'd never heard of them until Agatha & Archie wrote about them a while back! Sound delicious! J x

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