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Pierogies, unwrapped

When I think of my family, I almost always think of food. I don’t know if that says more about me or if we are all just incredibly food-oriented. 

I think it’s the latter, but this week’s recipe is maybe a case for the former. 

Though I’ve never been to Poland or even really raised with traditional Polish foods, I’ve always been fond of the things that remind me of my maternal grandma’s familial homeland. I’ve written about my family dumplings, the one sorta traditional recipe that did pass down. 

Pierogi casserole ingredients.

But when I’ve made bialys or used pierogies in other recipes, I’ve always felt like Grandma Verbrugge was with me in spirit. 

Well, Grandma is gone now, leaving us this past Christmas, so I have been even more in want of a connection. Enter a recipe from the Food Network that is pierogies—but without the frustrating experience of filling dough and hoping it all stays intact. 

I won’t lie, it’s not totally without effort, but like any wonderful dish that comes together and offers comfort, it was more than worth it. Maybe that’s why a good meal is like family. 

Here’s what I did, more or less sticking with the original recipe from an Iron Chef fave Michael Symon. 

Underneath that crust is potatoes, cheese, bacon, and onions. Amazing.

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients

For the dough: 

  • 1 egg
  • 8 T. softened butter, plus more for greasing the 9 x 13 
  • ¾ c. sour cream, plus more for serving
  • 1 T. chopped chives (I used freeze dried, though fresh is called for), plus more for serving
  • 1 t. salt 
  • 2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough

For the filling: 

  • 2 lb. potatoes, cut into large chunks
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 c. heavy cream, heated until hot 
  • 8 T. cold butter
  • 1 small container (about 15 oz.) ricotta cheese
  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 1 lb. bacon, chopped
  • 2 large onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 ½ c. shredded Gruyere

Directions

For the dough preparation: 

Combine the egg, butter, sour cream, chives, and salt with your hands in a medium bowl. Add the flour and mix with your hands until a dough forms. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least two hours and up to a couple days. 

For the filling:

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Bring to a boil, season with salt, and reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cook until a knife easily pierces the potatoes. Drain and return to the pot and mash the potatoes, slowly mixing in the hot cream and cold butter. Add in the ricotta, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside. 

Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions, and toss to coat with the bacon fat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the onions are caramelized and sweet. Let cool. 

For the casserole/To finish: 

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Butter a 9 x 13 in. casserole dish. Roll out the pierogi dough on a lightly floured surface to a ⅛ in. thick rectangle, and cut into 4 x 13 inch strips (kinda like lasagna), rolling scraps as necessary. You’ll need about 12 strips (the original called for more, but I couldn’t make it work, and mine turned out fine). 

To assemble the casserole, arrange one layer of pierogi dough strips on the bottom of the dish, slightly overlapping the edges of the strips. 

Spread about half the potatoes on the dough. Top with onions, bacon, and a sprinkling of Gruyere. Place another layer of dough strips, and repeat the filling layers, finishing with the dough, followed by a little more Gruyere and some pepper. 

Bake until the casserole is bubbly and the cheese on top is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let rest about 15 minutes, serve with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle of chives, and enjoy!

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New year, new knowledge

One of my favorite things about doing this blog is regularly challenging myself to try something new. Sure, I like getting my favorites written down and sharing them, and of course, eating my creations, but that’s not all!

This week’s joy, after a whole year of making breads, was learning about tangzhong. It’s a technique to get softer bread and doesn’t take much time or effort. And, well, it works really well. It didn’t hurt that this week’s recipe — in my new equipment for the year, the ever-useful 9 x 13 in. casserole dish — was full of butter and sour cream, as well as chives: sour cream and chive dinner rolls from Bon Appetit. 

Sour cream and chive dinner roll ingredients.

Spoiler: they’re so good, they were not just eaten at dinner. They were anytime rolls, and they’re already nearly gone after making them a few days ago. 

I didn’t do much to alter the original recipe, but for once, I wish I would have read the comments in an article. At least before I ran into the exact same issue and could have saved myself some time, and a little bit of yeast and milk. The recipe says to use the same saucepan from the tangzhong steps to warm a little milk and add yeast until it dissolves; mine clumped. I, instead, ended up using a small bowl and microwaving the milk for a short bit until it was warm, then adding a pinch of sugar, and then the yeast. Worked like a charm on the second go.

Otherwise, while it was time-consuming, nothing was difficult and about all of it was expected for a yeast bread, so it was a nice way to kick off the new year. And stay away from the news for a few hours. 

Such yum, much tasty.

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients 

  • ½ c. plus 2 T. whole milk
  • 5 ⅓ c. bread flour (667 g), divided, plus more for dusting
  • 1 ½ t. active dry yeast
  • 1 c. sour cream, room temperature
  • ¼ c. sugar, plus a pinch more for yeast
  • 2 ½ t. kosher salt
  • 3 large eggs, divided
  • 1 stick (8 T.) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
  • ½ c. finely chopped chives
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Make the tangzhong: whisk together ½ c. milk, ½ c. water, and ⅓ c. flour in a small saucepan until smooth. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a stiff paste forms (per the directions: it should resemble mashed potatoes), about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and scrape the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, which is fitted with a dough hook. 

Warm the remaining 2 T. milk until lukewarm. Add a pinch of sugar and the yeast, and whisk until dissolved. Let sit about 5 minutes until the mixture is foamy. 

Meanwhile, add the sour cream, salt, 2 eggs, 4 T. butter, and 5 c. bread flour to the tangzhong. Scrape in the yeast mixture, and mix the dough together on low speed until it’s shaggy. Increase the speed to medium and mix, scraping as necessary and adding any more flour by the tablespoon if needed, until the dough is smooth, about 8 minutes. 

Dust the dough with flour and shape into a smooth ball. Place the dough inside a large bowl and cover. Let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. 

Meanwhile, coat a 9 x 13 in. casserole dish with 2 T. butter.

Punch down dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface and stretch into a square. Roll out into a 12 in. square, dusting with more flour as needed. Sprinkle chives evenly on top of the dough. 

Starting at one end, loosely roll up dough, and flatten into a long rectangle using your hands. Roll out dough again, dusting with flour as needed, into about a 6 x 16 in. rectangle. Cut into 24 squarish pieces, in a 3 x 8 grid. 

Working 1 piece at a time, pinch the corners together to form a teardrop shape. Then, seam side down, roll the dough into a round ball. Place in prepared casserole dish and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough, making about a 4 x 6 grid. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes. 

Meanwhile, place a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 375 degrees. 

Whisk remaining egg in small bowl, uncover the dish and gently brush the tops of the rolls with egg, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

Bake rolls until tops are deep golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. 

Remove from oven and immediately brush tops with remaining 2 T. butter. Let cool about 5 minutes and then slide the entire grid of rolls onto a wire rack. Serve warm or let cool and enjoy!

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Herby quinoa makes for quick, tasty dinner

This week’s recipe, I regret to say, sat unused for years in my binder full of recipes. I feel extra bad about that, though I have several unmade recipes ripped from magazines in the binder, because this one came hand-written from my mother. 

Even in the era of the Internet where she has shared several recipes with me via email, this one came to me hand-written. I’m not even sure when I got it or why (other than that it’s tasty), or why I never made it. 

However, my sweetie recently purchased quinoa for a vegetarian stuffed pepper recipe I mentioned recently, and so we had some extra sitting around, ready to be used. Enter my mom’s herby quinoa recipe. 

Herby quinoa ingredients.

Her recipe called to be made in a saucepan, but it was a small enough meal, enough for four servings, that it fit easily in my 9-inch Le Creuset. 

It was incredibly simple, and incredibly tasty, and I feel incredibly stupid for waiting so long to make it. 

While it does have bacon in it, it’s otherwise pretty healthy. Welcome after last week’s indulgence. The grain, herbs, some toasted almonds, with some bacon, and voila, a tasty weeknight meal is made. 

So tasty, so simple.

Here’s what I did, following Mom’s recipe … though she forgot to specify the amount of broth so I had to wing that part and it took slightly longer to cook than her recipe said: 

Ingredients

  • ½ c. slivered almonds
  • 1 t. vegetable oil
  • 4 slices of bacon (her recipe called for two thick pieces, I had thin stuff so I doubled it), ¼ in. dice
  • 1 small shallot, diced
  • 1 c. quinoa, rinsed
  • 2 c. vegetable or chicken broth
  • 2 sage sprigs (hers called for 1, but I am a sucker for herbs)
  • 1 T. minced chives
  • 1 T. chopped parsley
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds in pie plate and toast in the oven until golden brown. Let cool. 

In a 9- to 10-inch skillet, heat oil, add bacon, and cook until fat has rendered, about 2 minutes. Add the shallot and cook stirring a few times, until the shallot has softened but not browned. Add the quinoa, stock, and sage, and bring to a boil. 

Cover and cook over low heat until the stock has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes. 

Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Discard the sage stems, fluff the quinoa with a fork. Stir in the chives, parsley, and toasted almonds. Season with salt and pepper, and enjoy!

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Pizza bread!

OK, I think I’m officially on board with the bread-baking phenomenon. It just took me a little longer to get there than everyone else.

I’ve long liked the calming effects of kneading and the comforting aroma of bread rising, so I’m surprised I haven’t satisfied my soul sooner. Besides, as I have shown, I’ve long loved being a baker.

Even better, after making Serious Eats’ focaccia, I perused their other bread options and was delighted to find the double comfort of pizza and bread.

Pizza bread ingredients!

It sounded pretty easy, and because it called for a pound of pizza dough, and my measurements for my favorite dough don’t lead to exactly a pound, I just made a double batch and hoped there would be some leftover to have a homemade pizza later in the week. I was not disappointed.

With ingredients like garlic, dough, pepperoni, Parmesan, and red pepper flakes, it’s impossible for it to have turned out bad.

My only issue was pre-cooking the pepperoni with the garlic resulted in slightly crunchy pepperoni pieces in some cases after baking. It still didn’t taste bad, but I question if it’s totally necessary to pre-cook the meat, or maybe I’d just cook it for the barest minimum amount of time or on a lower setting to ensure the garlic gets cooked into the butter and crisps a little.

Still, we had no problem eating all 24 knots in just a few days.

Pizza bread!

Here’s what I did, mostly sticking to the recipe, only making my own dough:

Ingredients

  • 2 T. butter
  • 2 T. olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  • 4 oz. pepperoni, cut into ¼ in. squares
  • Red pepper flakes, to taste
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • ¼ c. chopped fresh parsley leaves
  • 2 T. chopped fresh chives
  • ¾ c. Parmesan cheese, grated, divided
  • Flour, for dusting
  • 1 lb. homemade or store-bought pizza dough (I used about ⅔ of a double recipe of my favorite dough recipe here and reserved the rest for a thin-crust homemade pizza)
  • Pizza/Pasta sauce, for serving

Directions

Heat butter and oil in a 9- to 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat until butter melts. Add pepperoni and cook until it starts to crisp, about 2 minutes (see note above about doing this for slightly less time). Add pepper flakes and garlic, and cook for about an additional 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the parsley and chives, and stir to combine. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in ½ c. of the Parmesan. Do not wipe out the skillet.

On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough in half. Take one piece and roll or stretch into a rectangle about 8 in. long by 4 in. wide. Use a bench scraper or sharp knife, and cut crosswise into 12 strips. Repeat with the other half, to yield 24 total strips.

Tie each strip into a knot and transfer to the bowl with the pepperoni, etc. mixture. Use your hands to toss and fold to coat the knots in the mixture. Place the knots in the skillet in a single layer, and drizzle with more olive oil.

Cover the skillet with plastic, and set aside until doubled, about 4 hours. Or, do as I did, and refrigerate for about 12 to 16 hours.

When ready to bake, heat the oven to 425 degrees, and place oven rack in the center. Remove the plastic wrap. Sprinkle on the remaining ¼ c. cheese. Place skillet in the oven and bake until golden brown and crisp, about 25 to 30 minutes. Brush on additional olive oil and enjoy with pizza sauce!

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Who needs 11 herbs and spices?

With summer officially upon us, I wanted to make something perfect for picnics and staying (relatively) cool in the kitchen. Sure, fried chicken is fried, but it’s great with a summer salad and there’s no baking or hours of stirring on the stove top.

I found my recipe from my very helpful Cook It In Your Dutch Oven cookbook. While there was the traditional fried chicken, the Midwest gal in me couldn’t resist the ranch fried chicken.

Ranch fried chicken ingredients.

In this case, ranch mostly just meant more herbs and spices, a buttermilk coating, and serving it with a side of ranch. But that also meant that it was mostly just a flavor explosion. Both the buttermilk mixture and the flour coating had the same herbs (cilantro, dill, and chives) and a lot of them. I might have added more dill because I misread teaspoons for tablespoons, but it was a delightful error.

Aside from being relatively easy and perfect for the summer season, I also found ways of making it even quicker and easier.

The lazy person in me just served it with a side of pre-made ranch rather than putting it together myself. Plus, my packages of chicken (Bare) had 10 thighs that meant I didn’t have a lot of leftover buttermilk mixture to mix with mayo for the homemade ranch.

I also skipped the step of laying out the flour-dredged pieces on their own wire-covered baking sheet to have fewer dishes to do later. This did mean dredging twice toward the end but mostly it was fine to lay it on parchment paper and/or plates.

So much flavor. Even better dipped in ranch.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

  • 1 c. buttermilk
  • 5 T. fresh chives, minced, divided
  • 5 T. fresh cilantro, minced, divided
  • 2 T. fresh dill, minced, divided (as mentioned above, I used more than the recipe called for)
  • 2 t. white vinegar
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
  • ½ c. cornstarch
  • 1 ½ t. garlic powder
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • ~2 q. vegetable oil
  • 8 to 10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (trimmed if needed), about 2 lbs.
  • Ranch dressing, for serving

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together 1 c. buttermilk, 2 T. chives, 2 T. cilantro, 1 T. dill, white vinegar, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of cayenne.

In a separate medium bowl, mix together the flour, the cornstarch, the remaining chives, cilantro, and dill, salt and pepper, and garlic powder.

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil (about 1 ½ inches high) to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, pat the chicken thighs dry. Dip the thighs individually into the buttermilk mixture before dredging in the flour mixture. Repeat with each thigh. As I mentioned above, the recipe recommends putting the dredged raw chicken on a wire rack on a sheet pan, but that sounded like a lot of extra dishes, so I placed them on a plate — I may have had to re-dredge some, but it was OK. Use whatever method you like best to hold the ready-to-fry chicken until the oil has heated.

Once the oil is heated (and try to maintain the temperature), add the chicken 3 to 4 pieces at a time and fry until cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the chicken and place on either a wire rack on a paper towel-lined sheet pan, or just on a paper towel-lined plate, as you desire. Repeat the frying process as needed until all chicken is cooked through.

Serve with ranch dressing, maybe some coleslaw as desired, and enjoy!