Pierogies ain't health food.

My whole family has been feeling under the weather lately, but I have this new theory that if I don't baby a cold, it will understand who is boss and go away.  I've been a little torn lately, though, because I think viruses are super cool.  Especially bacteriophages (favorite!), because they are awesome and don't hurt me. I digress.

My not-babying plans were interrupted by that snowstorm that's making New York City so miserable (suck it up, fools!  I spend my winters in Western New York!), so to keep myself occupied at home, I made pierogies.

I've had this recipe saved in my favorites for awhile, so I decided to try out a modified version I made up in my brain.  Without further ado...

Blanket's Sort-Of Lazy Pierogies


Start off by making the filling (this is where the sort-of lazy part comes in.)  I used instant mashed potatoes and made 8 servings (an estimate that turned out to be quite a bit too much.)  Then I seasoned them with salt, pepper, onion and garlic and set them aside to cool.

One of these days I'll make real mashed potatoes, just to
prove I don't suck.

For the dough, I used the recipe I'd found.  It's about as basic as humanly possible.

• 5 cups flour
• 2 3/4 cups cold water
• salt to taste

I didn't even add salt to taste, although I will if I make these again, because the dough was a little bland.  When you first mix it up, the dough will look like this--

Not so pretty.

Knead the dough on a clean, floured surface until it is soft and elastic.  I love kneading.  I think it has something to do with fond childhood memories.  But even I get bored after a few minutes.  So here's my kneading rule of thumb- when you think it's probably ready, go ahead and knead another 5 full minutes, because you've always been impatient and you don't want to screw this up.

I could be a motivational speaker.

Here's how it should look when you finish kneading--

I could also be an 18th century artisan Italian bread man.

When the dough is ready, divide it up into two balls so that you aren't working with so much.  Take one of the balls and roll it out so that it is about 1/8-1/4" thick.  If it's too thin, the pierogi might come apart while you're boiling it.

I got paranoid and made it a little too thick.

Then cut it up.

I just kind of guessed what size.

Take a piece of dough and stretch it out to the right thickness.  Drop a little spoonful of mashed potatoes on top.

Mr. Pierogi says "Don't overstuff!"

Fold one side over, then crimp up the edges tightly.

Remember hair crimping?  I wish I didn't.

Now you have a pierogi ready to boil!  Repeat this process until all the dough is gone.

Mine got progressively uglier.

Fill a pot about 1/3 with water and bring to a rolling boil.  Drop in 4-5 pierogies and stir them a little to keep them from sticking right away.  Let them boil for 4 minutes, then take them out with a slotted spoon.  They should float when they're done.

They grow and get slimy!

You can stop here, or fry them in a little olive oil, like I did.

This might be where they crossed from "no nutritional value"
to "are you really going to eat that?"

This recipe made a LOT of pierogies.

Om nom nom.

Overall?  Well-received by my family, including my little brother, who started out wanting to know why I would ruin ravioli by not using cheese.

He's not messing around.

On an unrelated note, one of the reasons I didn't blog much the past few weeks was that I was working on my big brother's christmas present.  I crocheted him a blanket using a fat needle, chunky yarn, and a triple crochet stitch.  He's moving to Australia this summer, so I wanted to make him something special.

I'm the best little sister ever.