Pierogies

Traditional Polish/Ukrainian stuffed pasta; Recipe recreated from genetic “memory”

Ingredients

• mashed russet potatoes (stiff mash)
• pasta dough (I used 2 eggs for 3 cups flour and enough water to create a dough - but I think the eggs were not necessary. No salt of course)
• grated jalapeno jack cheese (other cheeses including cottage or farmer’s cheese, and blue cheese are good too. Do not use mozzerella, american or swiss)

Directions

Boil the potatoes, mash them with some butter, salt & milk, then let them cool. Mix in the cheeses.

Make the dough in a food processor and use a pasta maker to roll it out to a consistent thickness (setting #5). Cut the dough using a round dough cutter such as a large glass - or a stainless steep drink shaker.

Place a large tablespoon of potato mixture in the center of each dough round. Wet half of the circumference with water and fold the dough over, crimping it together with your fingers (or using a fork). Be sure to exclude all air from the center. Repeat until you've used up one or both of the components. Raw pierogies should be set aside on a tray in a SINGLE layer - on in layers separated by waxed paper until the next step. Sprinkle with flour if the dough is in any way, sticky.

Heat a large pot of water to simmering and add pierogies, a few at a time. Keep the water just shy of boiling - pierogies are cooked in a few minutes, when they seem to float below the surface. If you want, you can flip them once or twice to keep you less bored.

Just before serving, fry the pierogies with onions in butter. Serve immediately with sour cream.

[NOTES:  Pierogies can be made with any number of other fillings including sweet potato, apples, sauerkraut - even cheesesteak. Go crazy ! The picture above shows a slightly overcooked pierogi. Better they receive a light, irregular browning, than this more uniform fry.]