Potato Pierogi

This recipe is not that hard to make, despite the long directions below! Basically, you make mashed potatoes, put it in egg roll wraps, and cook them! It was nice for kind of a different meal, and I LOVED making them! I get bored making the same old thing all of the time!

Adapted From: Melanie Gunnell

1½ pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 onions, finely chopped

Salt and black pepper to taste

2 tsp. Garlic powder

1 tsp. parsley

1 to 2 packages of round gyoza (pot sticker) wrappers (I have found these in the produce section of my grocery store near the egg roll wraps - if you can't find round wrappers, you can buy square and cut them into circles with a cookie or biscuit cutter)

Sour cream, melted butter or vinegar to serve

Cook the potatoes in a large pot of salted boiling water until just tender. Drain and set aside.

Mince the onions. Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet and cook the onions until they soften then lightly brown, darkly browned in spots.

Mash the potatoes in a bowl then mix in the onions and their cooking butter. Mix in garlic powder, parsley, and season generously with salt and pepper.

Working one at a time, brush the edge of the round wrapper with water (I just used my finger dipped in a bowl of water) and place a spoonful of filling in the center. Fold dumpling in half, pressing the edges together to thoroughly seal. Then dab around edges once more with water. Place each dumpling on a parchment or waxed paper lined baking sheet and repeat until all filling has been used.

Chill in the refrigerator if you are making them ahead of time. If you wish to freeze the dumplings for later use, make sure they are not touching, then freeze them until solid and later gather them into a freezer bag. This ensures that you will avoid having one mega-pierogi clump when you are ready to cook them.

To cook the pierogi: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the dumplings one at a time, until the surface of the pan is covered with dumplings. When they are done, about 2-3 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon.

Then, you can pan-brown your pierogi. You can do the boil method or the pan-brown method alone, but I chose to do both and we loved it! Heat a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a nonstick skillet and add dumplings in a single layer. When they are golden and in spots, browned, turn and brown other side.