Cooking with Maia!

Pierogi (noun) are:

1) a kind of filled potato dumpling made of gnocchi dough

2) a useful way of using up leftovers

3) delicious.

And easy.  Now that Leo's here I've been paying more attention to cooking good meals (i.e. not omelets) and he loves dumplings.  These are actually pretty easy too.  Steps:

Potatoes.  I like starchy "baking" potatoes, as opposed to waxy potato-salad varieties: Idahoes are perfect.  They peel easier once cooked; I prefer leaving the skin on.  Slice, cover with water, boil till done, drain.

Mash when they're still hot, so they dry out as much as possible.  Water is your enemy.  Mash with a fork, not a spoon, else you get chunks.  Fluff as they finish cooling.  Add some egg yolks to bind.  You could use whole eggs, but yolks make for a richer dough and whites for a better breakfast omelet the next day.  Add just enough yolk to bind the potatoes; one per big Idaho was about right.  Then add flour (we used whole-wheat) and salt to taste, making a stiff dough.Chill if you have time.

For kopitki (gnocchi) you boil and then fry little sniblets of dough; for pierogi, you fill them. You know.  Pat out a palm-sized piece of dough, turning it so it doesn't stick; put a glob of filling in it; fold it over, pinch the edges together.  Good fillings...oh anything.  Chopped deli meats, leftover meat sauce, ricotta-jam slurry.  The stiffer the better; chill the meat first.  Put the dumplings on a plate that you sprayed with Pam cooking spray, so they don't stick.  Make a few more.

Boil water.  When it's boiling ease the dumplings into it; wait till it comes back to the boil, turn the water down to a simmer.  When they float they're done.  Fish out with a spatula, or a slotted spoon or something; put back on Pammed plate, put plate in fridge to set up the fragile surface.  If you must put down more than one layer of pierogi (or any other dumpling) coat them with Pam so they don't glue together like overcooked pasta.  They firm as they cool.

Fry.  Eat.

Oh, and an afterpoint.  These keep in the fridge for several days, though the damp bottom gets kind of goopy; but they turn dark on contact with air and look really strange.  But taste fine.  I don't know if it's the potatoes or whole-wheat flour (never seen the effect in Poland, where all flour is white) but be forewarned.