Ingredients:
dough:
3 cups flour
1 cup cold water
2 eggs
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon salt

filling:
1/2 cup finely diced cooked turkey breast
1/2 cup chopped sauerkraut
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the filling ingredients. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together all of the dough ingredients until a round ball forms.

If the dough is overly sticky, add a little bit for flour, if crumbly, add a tiny bit more water. Roll out on a clean, floured surface. Roll about to about 1/8 thick.

Use a large (about 3 inch) round biscuit or cookie cutter to cut out circles. Place 1 1/2 teaspoon of filling on one side of the round of dough leaving a 1/4 inch rim around the bottom. Fold the other side and pinch tightly shut. Repeat until all of the rounds are filled. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the pierogi and boil until they float to the surface. Remove and serve or saute briefly in butter with some onions, just to brown them, before serving. Serve hot with leftover cranberry sauce and sour cream for dipping.

Yield: about 2 1/2 dozen small pierogi

My thoughts:

This year we made a lot of Polish and Eastern European influenced dishes so I thought I’d follow it up with one of my favorite Polish foods, pierogi! I’ve only made it once before and both times I was struck by how easy it is. The dough is very, very simple and easy to work with and you can fill them with pretty much anything.

We’ve discussed how Baltimore is really into sauerkraut at Thanksgiving. We like it, we make it, we serve it but we still end up having some leftover. Sauerkraut pierogi are some of my favorites due partially since they are always the last to sell out at the Polish festival* leaving plenty left for me to eat and because I like sauerkraut. Since I was trying to use up leftovers from Thanksgiving, I added some leftover turkey and dipped them in cranberry sauce instead just sour cream. Yum!

*Now being held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, locals! I saw an article in the December (issue #152) Saveur by Jennifer Walker which implied the festival was no more. This isn’t true, it just moved indoors and out of the city due to costs.