Traditional Polish Fish Pierogi

Ingredients – Filling

• 7 oz cooked white fish
• 1 onion chopped fine
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 egg – beaten
• 1 slice white bread or a small bread roll
• 1 tablespoon of dried breadcrumbs
• Chopped flat-leaved parsley
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions – Filling

• Fry the onions gently in the butter till golden.
• Leave the onions to cool.
• Make crumbs from the white bread.
• Chop the fish into small pieces.
• Mix the ingredients together.
• Season to taste

Pierogi Instructions

• 1 cup pasta flour or plain flour & 2 tablespoons of fine semolina
• 5oz water
• 1 tablespoon oil – sunflower or light olive
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg yolk

Method – Dough

• In a cup mix together the water, oil and the yolk.
• Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the center.
• Pour in the liquid from the cup and initially use a knife to mix this into the flour and then use your hands to mix the liquid and flour to get a ball of dough.Turn this out onto a floured board and knead the dough for a few minutes until you have a smooth ball.
• Cover and leave to rest for about ½ an hour.
• Cut the dough into half.
• Prepare a large tray and cover it with a clean cotton or linen tea towel and sprinkle this with flour.
• On a floured board roll out the dough a half at a time until you have a sheet of thinly rolled dough.
• Cut out circles using a 3" diameter cutter.
• The excess dough can be re-mixed and rolled out again.
• Around a half tablespoon of filling is put on  each circle and then they are folded over and the edges pinched together to make a good seal.
• You learn from experience how much filling to put in as too much will make it hard to seal them and if not properly sealed they will burst on boiling.  Do not worry if you have a few mishaps – it still happens – even with experience – it is hard to salvage one that has gone wrong – just accept that there will be a few that you do not cook.
• Place the sealed pierogi on prepared tray until they are all made, do not let then touch each other.

Cooking Instructions

• To cook the pierogi, use a large pan of boiling water to which you have added some salt and a drizzle of oil.
• Drop the pierogi in one by one and allow them to boil.  I usually do about 5 to 6 at a time.
• As they cook they will float to the surface, let them boil for 2 minutes and then remove them with a slotted or perforated spoon and put into a colander above a pan for a few seconds to drain and serve with melted butter.
• Continue boiling batches in the same water.
• If you want to make all the pierogi to serve together then you need to get a large oven proof dish.
• Melt lots of butter in the dish.
• Keep the dish warm in a low oven.
• As you take out the cooked pierogi add them to the dish and coat them with the melted butter.
• Keep on adding more as they cook.