Meat Free Friday: Spinach Feta Pierogis

After tasting spinach feta pierogis from the grocery store (which, by the way, were quite tasty), I decided to try making some of my own.  Here is the result:

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH (this isn’t my usual potato based dough for pierogis but it is quite delicious):

1 large egg

2 T. sour cream

1 cup milk

1 cup water

4 1/2 to 5 cups flour

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING:

You could use a box of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained) but I used fresh baby spinach that I sauteed in a bit of butter and olive oil with the garlic and onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small shallot or 2 green onions, chopped finely

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/3 cup cottage cheese

1 egg, beaten

lemon pepper to taste (I didn’t use salt – I find cheese salty enough on its own)

parsley and mint to garnish

sour cream for serving

Instructions:  Prepare the dough as following – whisk the egg and gradually whisk in the sour cream until smooth.  Continue to whisk as you pour in the milk and water.  Stir in the flour, a little at a time, until you’ve added about 3 cups of it.  Place dough on a floured surface and knead, adding in about another cup of flour as you do.  The dough is pretty sticky until you get all the flour added to it – I found my metal kitchen scraper really helpful to release it from the surface I was kneading on.  Once you have that cup of flour well combined with the rest of the dough, add an additional 1/2 cup of flour, kneading in for about 10 minutes until you have a dough that is elastic and not sticky.  It’s important to work the flour in slowly so that you can adjust it by adding a bit more or a bit less as needed to get the right texture.  Too much flour will make for a very tough dough and too little will leave you with a dough that is too sticky!  Form the dough into a ball, coat it with flour, and put in a covered bowl while you fix the filling.  Don’t start to roll it out yet as it needs a bit of resting time first!

In a bowl, combine the sauteed spinach mixture with the cheeses, egg, and lemon pepper.  Let this cool a bit so it’s easier to handle.  Meanwhile, let’s roll and cut the dough.  Roll out with a rolling pin on a floured surface to a thickness of about 1/8 inch.  Use a floured circle cutter (or a drinking glass if you don’t have one) to cut out the pierogi wrappers.  Put 1-2 T. of filling into the center of each wrapper.  Fold in half and seal the edges – pinch and press really well so no filling leaks out!  You can even use a fork or other such item to seal and add texture to the edges if you want.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Drop the filled pierogi into the water – you’ll want to work in batches because you want them to have lots of room around them so they don’t stick together.  At first they sink to the bottom of the pot, but you can tell when they’re just about done when they start floating.  Give them about a minute more in the boiling water and remove them.  Once all of them are boiled, use a large skillet for the next step.  Add some butter and/or olive oil and fry the pierogis over medium heat for a few minutes on each side until they are golden brown.

Serve as desired – some people like to drizzle a bit of melted butter or some olive oil over them.  A sprinkling of Parmesan or some extra crumbled feta cheese can be tasty.  If you like something of a more traditional taste, you could use some soy bacon bits and sour cream  I just went with sour cream and some chopped parsley and mint on top! YUM!

Here are some more fantastic meat free meal ideas: