Gadding About with Friends Making Pierogies

Boguska's pierogies filled with cabbage or potatoes and cheese. 

My friend Boguska (aka Marta) is a whiz at making pierogies, and two of my other friends Jen and Assunta had asked if we could get together and have her make some pierogies for us.  We had a wonderful time, and we are impressed with Boguska's expertise in cooking.   For lunch we had some of these and the rest we divided and bought them from her.  She sells her homemade fresh pierogies at $20. for a package of 15.

She set up shop in my kitchen and we all pitched in to help..

Getting prepared. 

Potatoes with cheese, cabbage, and onions for fillings.  

Check out this video showing some of the steps in making these delicious dumplings.

Stuffing the dough. 

The next video shows the pierogies being cooked.

They float to the top when they are done. 

Ready to serve.  Yummy!

We spent most of a Saturday making and eating the pierogies, and the three of us are now on her list to make more for us as needed (I think I'll need at least a package once a month.)  Fun! Fun! Fun!

My only contribution was providing the kitchen, setting the table, and making a salad.  The others did all the work. 

p.s. We had so much fun that we decided to form our own little Cooking Club where we will get together once a month and one of us will prepare the meal while introducing the others to a new recipe. We are a diverse group (Australian, Polish, Italian, and Southern US) so we hope to experience some different cuisines.  I may even introduce them to a West African dish, Groundnut Stew became a favorite of mine the summer I was in Ghana.

Homemade Pierogies

Homemade Polish pierogies.

My dear friend, Marta Boguska from Poland, is a great cook, and she frequently brings us "goodies" that she has made from authentic Polish recipes.  We are so fond of pierogies that the other day she came to the house and made a batch for us.  I watched in hopes that I could learn to make them, but there is definitely an art to it and I didn't do too well.

Here she is mixing the dough, rolling it, and then cutting out little pastries that will be filled with good things.

Mixing the dough from flour, eggs, water and salt. 

Rolling out the dough.

Cutting out the pastries and filling them with the potato mixture.

She filled these pierogies with a potato, cheese, onion mix---one of our favorites.   

Adding Farmer's cheese to the potatoes and onions. 

The potato, cheese, onion filling.

The mixture goes into the pastry and the pastry edges are pinched together. 

Pierogies ready to cook.

The little dumplings are dropped into boiling water for just a few minutes until done. 

Simmering the dumplings.

After simmering, the pierogies are placed in cold water to stop the cooking and then drained.

Pierogies placed in cold water to stop cooking.

Drain pierogies. 

They are often served with fresh dill garnishes.

Ready to eat with pepper and dill and a side of cole slaw.

Left overs ready to freeze.

The leftovers can be frozen, and cooked in a bit of olive oil until brown on each side.

Marta's homemade pierogies are so much better than the frozen ones available at the grocery, and if you live in the Raleigh area and are honing for some homemade pierogies, she would be happy to make some for you.  Just let me know and I can put you in touch with her.