This is the 4th of a multi-part post on pierogi. To read it from the beginning,
click here. This post contains recipes for potato and cheese fillings. For other types of fillings, dough recipes, and instructions on rolling, filling, and cooking pierogi,
click here.
Each of the recipes below makes enough for 50 Pierogi (based on a Pieróg made from a 3 3/18ths-diameter round).
Potato and Cheese Pierogi Filling
I’ve never heard of a potato filling that didn’t contain cheese, even though it calls itself simply “potato.” That’s not to say there is no such thing. I simply haven’t heard of it. And I don’t think I’d want to.
6 medium potatoes (skins on, optionally)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 Tbs butter
1 tsp salt
Dash of pepper
1 lb farmers cheese or ricotta
1 egg (optionally), beaten
1 Tbs flour (optionally)
Quarter the potatoes, or “eighth” them, or do whatever you have to, to get them to large-but-more-or-less-bite-size chunks. Dump’m in a medium-size pot and cover them with cold water, by about ½-inch. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook until tender (about five minutes after boiling). Meanwhile, saute the onion in butter, until translucent. Once the potatoes are done, drain and mash them, adding the sauteed onion, salt, and pepper. Add cheese and optional ingredients, and mix well. Taste to correct seasoning. Cool, then use to fill dough.
Cottage Cheese Pierogi Filling
The egg will add richness and will also help to bind the ingredients. The flour will help thicken the mixture if it’s too loose. MiLam recommends using the flour if you use the egg or a dry-cheese substitute.
½ cup dry cottage cheese[1]
1 tsp butter, melted
Pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
Push cheese through sieve. Add remaining ingredients. Taste to correct salt.
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Notes:
Breakfast Pierogi Do you trust me? Sure you do. Well, here’s something amazing: so, you’ve fried up some potato pierogi and some cataclysmic event prevented you, your friends, and your family from eating them all – but not so cataclysmic that you weren’t alive the next morning and interested in breakfast. Well, you nuke those puppies, you put sour cream on them, and then you spoon a spoonful of blueberry preserves on top of each one. I’m telling you, it’s delicious. It’s kind of like a blintz.
[1]
Dry Cottage Cheese is the same thing as farmers cheese. You can
make it yourself. It requires cheesecloth, and, to me, “cheesecloth” is a red flag that says “no fucking way … recipe too complicated.” A
coffee filter is a good substitute for a cheesecloth. But I’m a French press guy. If you’re the kind of person who uses a drip machine, then you probably have a filter or two in your cupboard … but there’s no way you’re making your own cheese if you can’t even be bothered to brew a cup of coffee properly. On the other hand, if you’re the kind of guy who makes his own pour overs, then, even though you do have filters around, you probably also have cheesecloth, because, you’re obviously the product of some kind of super-race. I do have a couple
cheesecloths that I keep around in case Giada de Laurentiis ever stops by unexpectedly, and I have to confess that
I’m at least a little tempted to hunt them down to see about making some farmers cheese. It does sound pretty doable. Sill, you can find farmers cheese sometimes in some groceries. HOWEVER, for the purpose of making a pierogi filling, you could strain the liquid from a carton of cottage cheese by simply letting it sit over a fine-mesh strainer for a nice, long time. Farmers cheese is salted, so you may need to add a bit more salt than called for in the recipe. Farmers cheese really is dry, and your strained cottage cheese will never be quite as dry unless you press it, which requires a cheesecloth, which means, of course, no fucking way. But, again, for the purposes of a pierogi filling, you could add 1 Tbs or so of flour to the mix to thicken it, if necessary.
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See Also:
[1]
Introduction: traditional Polish foods, pierogi serving size, spreading out the work
[4] You Are Here
[5]
Fillings, Part 3 :
Fruit![]()
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