Pierogi: An Atavistic Delight Coming to a School Near You

My local newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, ran feature story on pierogi in its Wednesday food section recently, Pierogi, it said, are traditional stuffed Polish dumplings, and a staple of Milwaukee’s Polish immigrant community years ago. It also said making them was an almost day long job involving the whole family – an ethnic tradition. [Full Text] Though I suspect, the article chronicled more of an atavistic and not entirely accurate recreation of an ethnic tradition.

Dumpling stuffed with sauerkraut or mashed potatoes are not the stuff of ethnic high cuisine. Instead it’s peasant food. Originally, pierogi come for the cookbook entitled “What Can I make with what’s at Hand.” (It’s out of print.) A Polish farmer would always have flour, eggs, potatoes and sauerkraut on hand. Rita grew up with the Ukrainian version of the dish – varenyky.

Now it seems our school lunches are going retrograde traditional peasant and serving up mashed potato filled ravioli. This of course would be in Washington D.C., ground zero in the First Lady’s school lunch crusade.  [Full Text] (And I would note the First Lady's ravioli school lunch seems way tall on carbs and way short on protein. A simple PB&J sandwich might be a better bet.)

The kids have got to love that. It is possible to make good mashed potato stuffed ravioli. Just, think of pasta encasing good double baked potato mix, with bacon and cheese, sautéed in a garlic butter sauce and then topped with parmesan.

But that probably not what the kids are getting. They are more likely getting factory made ravioli stuffed with instant mashed potatoes and topped with a nasty tomato sauce. You can be sure there wasn’t an extended Polish family hidden in that school kitchen cooking up a huge batch of pierogi for those kids.

More true to peasant form Rita’s mother, Olga, typically stuffed these with either cherry pie filling or farmer’s cheese and served sour cream to top them.

Blintzes were a variation on this theme. Essentially they were crepes stuffed with the same. But give the same thin pancakes a haughty French name – Crepe Suzette – fold them four ways and top them with ice cream and a liqueur glaze and they become the shining star on the dessert menu of a upscale restaurant.

It seems with increased prosperity these simple and rather drab ethnic dishes evolve into culinary delights. They’ve become comfort foods with a hint of ethnic authenticity.

In that regard Italian cuisine shines brightly. (Ethnically I’m Norwegian. Lutefisk on the other hand can never evolve into a culinary delight. It’s an ethnic dish to be endured in small portions, at ethnic gatherings in Minnesota and the Dakotas, from time to time. And in that time to time, should years pass it would not be too long.)

But back to the subject at hand, the similarity between the Polish pierogi and my Italian ravioli.

From the photos with the Journal-Sentinel article, they looked like homemade ravioli, a dish I make regularly. It’s not a whole day job and does not involve an army of extended family. To feed a dinner party of ten doesn’t take much more than an hour and a half. To feed a table of four it can be pulled off in about an hour.

In fact the pierogi dough used to enclose the stuffing was virtually identical to my pasta dough. But the recommended fillings were not things I would think of for ravioli – sauerkraut, mashed potato, spinach, cherry or parsnip?

This of course picked my curiosity on the common culinary lineage of ravioli and pierogi. For research like this Wikipedia is good. Look up either dish and a long list of similar dishes reveals that this is an almost universal passant meal served though out much of the old world from Italy to China. [Full Text]

Across this huge swath of geography the stuffing changes as does the presentation. But the concept remains the same – stuffed dumplings. My ravioli are stuffed with either Ricotta cheese and Italian sausage stuffing or a spinach and cheese stuffing. They are served with a tomato sauce and are topped with Parmesan.

But these beauties have so much more potential both in presentation and stuffing mixes. I am thinking of a pork sausage cabbage stuffing in a dumpling which after its boiled is fried in butter, garlic and onions. I wonder how to stuff them and what size to make them if they were to be served in a bowl of rich chicken broth.

So it seems I make pierogi but call them ravioli. This is how I make them to serve two to four.

The dough

1 Egg

1 Tbs Water

1 Tbs  Olive Oil

½ tsp salt

¾ Cup Flour (1/2 general purpose, ½ semolina)

Start with the water, olive oil and salt. Thoroughly whisk together then whisk in the egg. Gradually mix in flour to make a firm dough. Let the dough rest for a half hour. While the dough rests mix the following together for the filling. 

The Filling

1 Box frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained

½ Cup Ricotta Cheese

½ Cup Grated Mozzarella 

1 Tbs Minced Garlic

To make ravioli for four, divide the dough into four portions then divide each portion into thee. Roll each of these into balls. They will be somewhat smaller than a golf ball. Roll these flat with a rolling pin.  Mound about tablespoon of filling in the center of rolled out pasta, fold over and crimp the edges with a fork.

Boil the ravioli gently for 20 minutes until cooked al dente.

For the sauce, combine:

1  14.5 oz. Can of Diced Tomatoes (no salt added)

1  8 oz. Can of Tomato Sauce (no salt added)

2 Tbs Italian seasoning

¼ Cup Dry Red Wine

Tomato Paste as need, Salt and Pepper to taste

Bring the combined ingredients to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about one hour. To finish either add water or tomato paste to achieve a consistency where the sauce will nicely coat a spoon.

To finish the dish, transfer the ravioli to a casserole, top first the tomato sauce and then grated mozzarella cheese. Cover and bake in a 350^o oven for twenty minutes. Serve, with a side salad and garlic bread this this recipe will amply serve four.