We interrupt this Road Trip to bring you the August Daring Cooks’ Challenge – hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogies from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.
When I read this challenge, it was something like 100F (37C) and over 85% humidity and I was not too impressed with the idea of a heavy Polish dish in the height of summer. I live in little Poland in Toronto (Roncesvalles Village) so I know my pierogies and it was so hot I was seriously considering skipping what I consider to be a heavy winter/ fall dish. However, I looked around online to find a nice lighter filling and used whole wheat flour for a healthier, lighter dish and was super impressed with the results.
I chose this Wild Mushroom pierogie recipe from Epicurious, using this dough.
These were actually pretty easy to make – the hardest part was making sure the dough was thin enough that they didn’t turn out all stodgy the way I really dislike my pierogies, and by working with small pieces of the dough one at a time, I managed to make little parcels that not only looked right, and stayed stuck together whilst they boiled, but ones which tasted amazing. I was super impressed with these (if I do say so myself!). I served these with a little onion-butter sauce (and Neil had sour cream) and paired them with the Classic Polish Cucumber Salad I made for Kitchen Bootcamp last month and it was perfect for a light summer dinner. Would not hesitate to make them again though probably in the fall or winter…
Stay tuned for more Road Trip posts – coming up – Gold Country, California (and yes, I panned for gold….)
They look great! I also made mine with whole wheat dough and my hubby and I really liked them. But rolling the dough really thin was challenging.
Yes that was definitely the most challenging part for me!
These look great and I bet the mushroom filling is tasty. I need to get on my challenge this weekend or I guess I missed. Yikes!
Well I think if you miss one, you’re still ok!
Awesome! They are so absolutely perfect.
I was pretty pleased with them, yes!
Great job on this challenge. They look wonderful. I’ve never had them before and I would say mine were stodgy. No post for me because my hard drive died and I have no pictures of my stodgy pierogies.
Oh Barbara – I am so sorry – I was so concerned that mine would be stodgy, I nearly went to a Polish restaurant up the street for some backups!!! They *can* be stodgy but I am pleased mine were not.
That’s pretty cool that you managed to turn pierogies into a summer-y dish. They look great!
We do what we can over here!
They look beautiful Mardi! I love the flavour :). What a perfect idea to make a lighter summer version!
Thanks Lauren!
I love pierogies but now wondering if I’ve ever made them with a mushroom mixture and thinking not; so excited for something new to try!
But must say…I can not stop chuckling about Barbara’s stodgy pierogies; say that three times fast!
Oh Barbara you would love them…
I don’t mind this kind of interruption at all! Seriously, it’s been at least a year since I’ve had pierogies (or the Ukrainian version, at least) The craving has begun! I love the sound of this lighter version and your onion butter sauce would be my choice over sour cream, too. 😎
Thanks for stopping by Tracey!
I love peirogis and don’t mind eating them anytime of the year. Yours look divine! Hope you are having a wonderful trip!
Yes I am pleased they turned out a little bit lighter!
wow, your peirogis look seriously yummy!
looks delicious
Gorgeous! Love the mushroom filling!
Great idea for a summer pierogi! Your mention of Roncesvalles made me a bit wistful–I used to live in the neighbourhood.
🙂
It’s such a great neighbourhood (though plagued right now with neverending construction….).
Hooray for California road trips! 😀
Onion butter is a *great* idea for on top of all sorts of pierogi… I wish I’d thought of that, although the sour cream wasn’t bad at all.
Beautiful pierogi, and it seems they make a good accompaniment to that cucumber salad!
Yes I liked the sour cream but I *really* liked the onion butter!!!
This is such a nice light pierogies dough, I too don’t believe I’ve ever made mushroom filling for these…, so will be trying it (as it is late winter here, it’s just the thing).
Cheers
Anna
Oh it’s perfect for winter!!!
These look amazing!!! Fantastic job on this challenge!
Mmm onion butter sauce sounds amazing!
It really went well with the dish…
you made the skin! Good job….
I know – makes up for when I didn’t make the IIP dumpling dough….
This makes me want to be a daring cook now!
These look wonderful! I am actually going to a Polish festival today, and pierogies are on the menu there! Hopefully I will get some inspiration to try my own. Have you ever tried to make a potato filling?
Thanks for sharing!
No, this is my first time making them. When it’s cooler I might attempt different fillings.
Yummy. I love pierogies too (and we’ve shared them, as I recall) and yours look amazing. And the onions look so caramelized and tasty. Mushroom pierogis are some of my favorites, so I’ll have to try yours if I feel ambitious.
Moochie might be able to help you with the filling and pressing the edges together with a fork – she would have fun!
Great looking pierogi and nice idea for the filling 🙂
Thank you for taking part this month.
Cheers. Anula.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Beautiful pics…..the pierogi look great!
This looks like a seriously delicious pierogi. I like that the buttery flaky pastry is pair with earthy wild mushrooms.
Great job! Your filling sounds wonderful! What a great comfort food!
These look great! Your pierogies turned out wonderfully. Darron loves pierogies (he grew up with them, I did not), so he’s always asking me to make them.
Oh Jen, if *I* can make them, so can you!
Your pierogies look fantastic! I love the mushroom filling!
Those pierogies look amazing! I have made them a couple of times with potato filling, but never with mushroom. These look so fantastic I can’t wait to try them, and I love the idea of making them in the summer with the cucumber salad!
Yes I was pleased that it turned out to be a nice summer dish as well as a heavier fall one if you switch up the fillings.
The mushroom filling just makes this great! I would love it! and I just have to try it now!
Oh just love the mushroom lighter filling. Can’t believe you managed to squeeze this in before the trip. They look delicious.
Well I do love the cheesy ones too but it was just too hot!
you pierogi are gorgeous, Mardi! Love those mushrooms. Doesn’t look too heavy for summer at all. 🙂
Yup I was pretty happy with how they came out! And nice and light too!
these look terrific! would you share the onion butter sauce recipe? that looks like a nice way to serve them.
Cat – it’s just onions fried in butter…. 😉
Missed my peirogi post due to travel but glad I got to share yours, they look delicious!
Thanks – I will be making them again!
Oh man this looks delicious! And your photographs are beautiful! Everything here looks great!
Thanks I can’t believe how easy they were!
We just ate pierogies for dinner tonight! But they were frozen. From a box.
Yours look infinitely tastier. Perhaps I should try making them for myself!
Michelle – they are so much easier than you would think!