Polish Cuisine

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My sister and I have been wanting to try to make pierogies for a while now. Finally on Saturday we decided we were going to do it. And while we were at it, we may as well continue the Polish theme with some candied kielbasa. Thank you to La Petit Pierogi for the pierogi recipe.

Both of these turned out really good. However - the pierogies took FOREVER! We thought one batch made about 2 dozen and there were going to be potentially 8 of us for dinner, so we decided to double it. Mistake - we made almost 100 pierogies.

Between my sister, our friend Stacey and myself, it took us close to 4 hours to roll, cut and fill. Definitely a long day. Thanks Stacey for helping us out!

I'll start with the kielbasa.

Candied Kielbasa
Ingredients:
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c ketchup
1/4 c prepared horseradish
2 lbs kielbasa sausage, sliced thin

Directions:
In a slow cooker combine all ingredients and mix well. Cook on High until it starts to boil, then reduce heat to Low, and cook until sauce thickens, about 1 hour.
The sauce thickened a little bit, but I don't think it was quite as much as it should have. But it still tasted extremely good!

Pierogies
Ingredients:
Potato Filling: (there is also a recipe for the saurkraut filling in La Petit Pierogi's blog)
3 T butter
1/2 c chopped onion
2 c cold mashed potatos
1 t salt
1 t white pepper
Shredded sharp cheddar (I used about 8 ou)

Dough:
3 eggs
1 (8 ou) container sour cream
3 c flour
1/4 t salt
1 T baking powder

Directions:
To prepare the filling, melt the butter in a skillet, then add the onion and cook until translucent. Stir in the mashed potatos and cheese and season with salt and pepper. (Okay, we didn't do this, we boiled our potatos, then added the butter and mashed, then added in everything else and then we let it cool).

Note: when peeling potatos for mashing, do not peel your finger. It hurts. No, really... I wouldn't lie to you.

To make the dough, beat together the eggs and sour cream until smooth, and sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the egg and sour cream mixture to the dry ingredients until dough comes together.
Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until firm and smooth. Divide the dough in half, then roll out to about 1/8 inch thick.

Cut into 3 inch rounds using a biscuit cutter, or if you're like me and don't have one, use a drinking glass!
Place a small spoonful of filling into the center of each round and fold the dough in half over the filling, moisten with water to make the dough stick. Press together with a fork to seal.
Repeat procedure with the remaining dough.

Now you can either freeze or cook right away.

To freeze -place the pierogies on a cookie sheet or baking pan and place in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Remove from freezer and place in an airtight container with wax paper between layers.

To cook pierogies, frozen or not, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pierogies and cook for 3-5 minutes until they float and remove with a salted spoon.

In a separate pan, melt about 1/2 stick of butter. Add about 1/2-1 c of onions, if desired, and cook until translucent.
Add boiled pierogi to the pan and fry until golden brown on each side. Enjoy!