Recipe - Herby French Onion Pierogi

Herby French Onion Pierogi

[Vegetarian]

I wanted my next recipe to be dairy free, but Devon and I decided to treat ourselves to pierogi last weekend and figured we would share the recipe!

The first time we made pieorgi we made a more traditional filling with potato, onions, mushrooms, and herbs. However, we found that we were craving an extra savory element and ending up eating them as much with soy sauce as sour cream. That craving was the inspiration for these pierogi that really bump up that umami flavor while still remaining vegetarian!

Though this recipe is a huge time investment, it really pays off. You only need to eat 3 of them if you're quite hungry, the recipe makes 26, and they freeze perfectly! We hope you enjoy!

Note #1: It's possible that you could make a vegan version of this recipe, subbing the butter for vegan butter/olive oil and the sour cream for vegan sour cream. However, I am unsure how the dough would react to the vegan sour cream, which is why I would not recommend it. If you do try it though, please let me know how it goes!!

Note #2: When I cooked this for the pictures, I actually used double the amount of ingredients to make the filling. I cut the amount in half because of the sheer amount of leftover filling I had but, as such, all the filling pictures will look like a lot more food than yours will!

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The Recipe

Serving Size: 26 Pierogi
Cook Time: Your whole afternoon.

Originally Based on the Following Recipes:

• https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/basic-pierogi/
  
• https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/84706/grandmas-polish-perogies/?src=VD_Summary
  
• https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/caramelized-onions
  

Ingredients 

Dough (directly "Grandma's Polish Perogies" dough)

• 4 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Butter, melted
  
• 2 cups Sour Cream
• 2 Eggs
  
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

 
Filling

• 1 lb of Potatoes (we used Red and Yukon Gold)
• 1 Yellow Onion
• 4oz Mushrooms (we used Brown Beech and Hen of the Woods)
  • The recipe would probably work great with 8oz of Mushrooms too!
• 3 cloves of Garlic
• 1 tsp Fresh Thyme + 2 tsp Parsley
  • If you are going to use dried herbs, use about half as much.
  • I encourage you to choose whatever herbs you know you would like! If I were making this just for myself I'd probably just have the thyme but Devon is a fan of the parsley.
    
• 2 1/2 tbsp Butter
• 1/2 cup Milk (your choice which, we used Oat Milk)
  
• 1 pinch of salt
  
• 2 tsp Soy Sauce
• 1/2 tsp Vegan Worcestershire Sauce
  

On the Side

• Sour Cream
• Chives

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Step by Step

I've split the recipe into different parts based on what you are making, however you'll probably want both your onions and your potatoes cooking at the save time to reduce the cook time.

The Onions

1. Peel your onions, halve them, then cut out their root. Cut them into long thin slices, think like what you would want on a burger. Once you have these slices, cut them in half, as we won't want long strands in our filling.

2. Heat 1 Tbsp of butter over medium heat in a saucepan or pot with high sides. The goal is for  your onions to steam in their juices, not for the water to quickly evaporate.

3. Once the butter is sizzling, start adding your onion by the handful. Once the latest are soft and turning translucent (1 - 2 minutes), add another handful. Once you've got all your onions in, add a small pinch of salt to help the onions continue to sweat out their water.

4. Reduce the heat to medium-low, stirring every few minutes. You're aiming to get them to a golden brown. This should take 25-40 minutes. During this process it is likely all the water will have been cooked off and the onion might start to burn to the bottom a bit. Add water in tablespoon increments to prevent this and just scrape up the burned bits. It'll add to the flavor!

5. Once the onions are golden brown, add 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce. This will help give the onions an even deeper umami flavor. This will help us achieve the "French Onion" flavor that is normally achieved with beef broth. Continue cooking the onions until that liquid is gone (fully absorbed into the onions) and then take them off heat.

The Potatoes

1. Wash and scrub your potatoes and cut off any weird bits. Halve any potatoes that are notably larger so that they are all around the same size.

2. Add them to a pot and cover them with cold water. Salt the water until is quite salty, almost like seawater, then cover the pot and set it to high heat.

3. Once the water is boiling, cook the potatoes until soft when pierced with a fork. This should take 25 - 45 minutes.

4. Strain them then add them back into the pot.

5. Use 1/2 tbsp of Butter and 1/2 cup of Milk and mash them into a pillow-y texture. Taste and salt as necessary then add pepper to your own personal preference. Remember, if its not tasting great, you probably need a bit more salt! Your goal here is to make delicious mashed potatoes, which are going to be the base your filling.

The Mushrooms

1. Roughly chop your mushroom and garlic.

2. Over medium heat melt 1 tbsp Butter then add in your mushrooms.

3. Once the mushrooms have released their water, add the garlic. Saute them until the mushrooms are fully browned and before any of the garlic burns. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Finish the Filling

1. Chop your parsley. Add that, your fresh thyme, the mushrooms, the onions, a pinch of salt, and 1 1/2 tsp Soy Sauce to the potatoes.

2. Mix thoroughly and you've got your filling!

Making the Pierogi (process and ingredients are directly "Grandma's Polish Perogies" dough)

1. In a large bowl stir together the flour and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, sour cream, eggs, egg yolk, and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the flour until well blended. Cover the bowl with a towel and let stand for 15 - 20 minutes.

2. Separate the dough into balls, about four of them. Roll them out one on a time on a lightly floured surface. Make them thin enough to work with but not so thin that they will tear. Cut into them with something circular, like a cookie cutter or a glass. Brush a little water with your finger around the edges of the circles and spoon filling into the center. Fold the circles over into half-circles then seal the edges. (We used a fork at first, but found it easier to just crimp them with our fingers.)

3. For the ones you want to freeze for later, place them on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer. Once they are fully frozen, transfer them to freezer bags or containers.

Finish the Pierogi

1. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil and drop the pierogi in one at a time (frozen or thawed it doesn't matter!). Once they float to the top, they are done.

2. If you'd like to brown them a bit, transfer them directly to a pan with a little butter or oil.  Once they are in the pan heat them over medium-low heat until slightly golden brown.

3. Serve with sour cream and chives for dipping! (We didn't have chives so our picture has parsley in the sour cream instead)

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