Posts in category: Recipe Blog

Pierogis are time intensive. You can make the sour cream, the dough, and the potato filling the day before. Refrigerate them all, and place the dough on the counter for about an hour before you split the dough into balls.

Makes 32 pierogis!

Sour cream
1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight or boiled twenty minutes
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon pink salt, plus more to taste
juice of one lemonwater

Dough
5 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup vegan butter
softened lukewarm water

Filling
3 medium potatoes
1/3 cup soy milk
1/3 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
juice of one lemon
black pepper
seasoning salt

Peanut oil for frying

Sour cream:
Rinse the cashews and process them, adding the remaining ingredients and water to the consistency you’d like. Process, process, process, using a spatula to scrape down the mix periodically. Be patient. You can get the sour cream very smooth! Salt to taste then set in the refrigerator, covered.

Dough:
Mix dough ingredients using enough water to make a very soft, tacky dough. Kneading for several minutes; really take your time kneading and add water sparingly. While you don’t want the dough to stick to the table, a softer dough will roll out better and a firm one will be frustrating. Set in an oiled bowl to rise until doubled in size (or refrigerate overnight, removing the bowl two hours before you want to start forming balls for the pierogis).

Potato filling:
Peel and wash potatoes; cut into even chunks about the size of a golf ball. Bring a tureen of salted water to boil. Boil potatoes until tender when pieced with a fork. Drain the potatoes, then rice or mash them well until they are smooth (don’t use a mixer or food processor)! Heat the soy milk and add it as well as the rest of the filling ingredients, whisking and varying the lemon juice to taste.

To assemble:
Clean your counter space and lightly dust with flour. When the dough has warmed to room temperature, split it into 32 even sections (by first splitting the dough into two halves, then each section halves again, and so forth) and roll these 32 blobs into a ball, placing these balls next to one another and covering with a damp cloth or plastic wrap. Let rest thirty minutes and lay out waxed paper for the formed pierogis.

Place a dish of lukewarm water at hand. Heat a large tureen of salted water while you stuff the pierogis. I simply mash each ball with the palm of my hand, and my pierogi partner fills them with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of filling. Before sealing, wet half the dough circle rim with water and really pinch them closed, carefully enclosing all your potato filling (you will get the hang of this quickly). Set each pierogi on wax paper until they are all finished and in a series of rows.

Pinch them closed again right before boiling! A split pierogi is a sad thing. I mean, so I hear. I’ve never split one, myself! :brag:

Carefully add the pierogi to the now-boiling tureen by slipping them in the water. Gently boil the pierogi in batches. Since this is a yeasted dough, they will likely float right away. Carefully turn them in the soft boil and cook about five minutes, until they are glossy and sealed. Remove each one with a slotted spoon, back to a rack so they can drain. You want them as dry as possible for the next stage.

When the pierogi are boiled go ahead and carefully pour out your tureen, wipe down your stovetop, and set your pan(s) out to fry on medium high heat (I use two large cast iron pans). Add a healthy bit of peanut oil and get the pan all warmed up. Carefully add pierogi to the pan(s) – they might sputter a bit – being careful not to overcrowd as you cook in batches. You might fiddle with the heat a bit here; you want them to cook to golden brown relatively quickly. Remove each to a warm plate as you cook.

Serve pierogi with a side of sour cream and watch them disappear! It’s *magic*!

h/t to friend and reader Jeanne who served me a version of stuffed mushrooms at her house last week. I came home, did a little research, and developed my own version. These are delicious and very easy to make. Mushroom-shy kids (like mine) may enjoy the filling which is a gateway to one day devouring the whole thing.

I used fresh oregano but most fresh herbs would be delicious; they are offset beautifully by the bite of the mushroom and goat cheese.

8 – 12 whole fresh mushrooms, depending on size
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic
1 stalk celery
1 6 oz. package goat cheese, softened (unwrap the cheese and put in a small bowl with a plate on top, at room temperature for one hour)
1 sprig fresh oregano, washed and de-stemmed
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or use a baking stone). De-stem and gently wash the mushrooms; set aside stems, then place caps on a kitchen towel to drain, dome up.

Cut off the tough end of the stems and chop the remainder very fine, along with the garlic and celery. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté until the moisture is removed from the mushrooms. Set aside to cool.

When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in the goat cheese, oregano, parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Mixture should be clumpy like biscuit batter (vary the addition of parmesen cheese to get this effect). Using dampened hands, fill each mushroom cap with an equal amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on the baking sheet.

Bake for twenty minutes or until the mushrooms look sufficiently hot and tender.

My friend Abi recently emailed me she was making a version of this soup (often called “New York Penicillin” for it’s restorative and nurturing properties). I’d never felt intrigued previously, seeing canned versions in the supermarket and having little familiarity with the concept. A foray on the internet convinced me I had to try it!

The dill is an interesting element but works very well (I think dried dill would not be fun). The part of the soup that involves any degree of finesse for your average kitchener are the matzoh balls themselves. I can see how a mis-step would leave hard balls or ones that fall apart (there are tutorials on YouTube etc. instructing one in technique). Due to my experience with dumplings I grew up on, I nailed it right out of the gate. More on matzoh balls at the end of the recipe.

1 chicken breast bone-in and skin-on, roasted w/salt and pepper and olive oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons diced fresh parsley (Italian or flat-leaf)
1/2 – 1 cup matzo meal (or cracker meal)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced fine
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup water and two vegetable boullion cubes
2 medium carrots and two ribs celery, cut into 1” matchsticks
Five sprigs fresh dill, carefully washed and clipped into 1” pieces
salt and fresh black pepper
1/2 stick butter

Dice up the crispy chicken skin as finely as you can and set aside. In a small bowl, mix eggs with two tablespoons of the chicken fat from the roasting pan or two tablespoons melted butter or margarine. Stir in the diced chicken skin, salt, parsley, then add matzo meal to form a soft dough – mix briskly and add matzo until the mixture is the consistency of cake batter. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Shred the chicken breast and set aside. Heat a bit of olive oil in a medium-large saucepan. Saute the garlic until soft. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the matchsticked carrots, celery, shredded chicken and dill and return to a simmer. Immediately stir and correct the seasonings (salt and pepper). Remove the matzoh from the fridge, shape into ping pong sized balls and drop in. If the batter is firm this should be easy; if soft you may want to coat hands with water or oil first and then simmer the balls gently. When all the matzoh is added, cover and cook for about thirty minutes (the balls will fluff up). Matzoh balls are a bit tricky, like dumplings. Experience will lend them to perfection.

Turn the heat off and add the half stick butter. Wait a few minutes, covered, before serving; or reheat the next day and serve.

Alternatively, you can cook the matzoh balls separately in boiling salted water. This has the advantages of allowing a shorter simmer on the veggies if you desire.

People will likely load up on the balls but you can always cook more and add to the soup. Enjoy!

* I’ve been told this soup is not kosher, then told it’s not kosher, by practicing Jews. So.