Polish Feast

For dinner last night my friend and I made a Polish feast of kielbasa, homemade sauerkraut and homemade pierogi.  I chopped up the cabbage for the sauerkraut about 4 weeks ago and it had been fermenting in the basement, and it was finally ready to be eaten.  It was my first attempt at sauerkraut, and it came out really well.  Making sauerkraut is fairly easy, I basically just added a bunch of salt to some chopped cabbage and put it in a pot for 4 weeks (tons of recipes available online).  We mixed the sauerkraut with a chopped onion and 6 thinly sliced apples then put the kielbasa on top and let it braise for about 30 minutes.  The kielbasa absorbs the moisture from the sauerkraut, and the sauerkraut acquires some extra flavor from the kielbasa- it was fantastic!  We also made pierogi dough and filling and stuffed about 24 huge pierogis.  Here is the recipe we used:

Pierogi Dough
Servings: 24 huge pierogis

1 cup yogurt
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tbsp melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix all the ingredients until they form a soft, pliable, but not too sticky dough (add more flour if necessary).  Let rest covered for 10 minutes.  Roll out the dough until thin.  Use a circle cookie cutter or a drinking glass to cut dough into circles.  Fill with filling and fold over.  Press the halves together so it looks like a semi-circle.  Seal the round edge with a fork.  Cook in boiling water for 10 minutes or pan-fry in butter.

Cheese and Potato Pierogi Filling

1 pound potatoes, peeled and cooked until tender
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk

Mash together until thick but not too dry (add more milk if necessary).