Meat Fillings for Pierogi

Pierogi Ruskie

By Cat, June 2014 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

Includes: 1. Potato and Ground Beef Filling; 2. Ground Beef, Potato and Cheese Filling; 3. Potato, Ground Beef & Pork Filling

See also: 1. Pierogi Ruski; 2. Cream Cheese Pierogi Pastry; 3. Ethnic Recipes Menu (scroll down to Eastern Europe & Russian section)

Pierogi are from Poland, but similar dishes can be found in all of Eastern Europe and Western Russia. They are a dumpling comprised of a dough surrounding savory fillings, then boiled like Italian ravioli, or boiled and fried like Chinese pot stickers, or baked like tiny pocket-pies, similar to Welsh pasties.

Most of my pierogi recipes are vegetarian, but in Europe, those made with potatoes and ground meat are the most popular. I present here a couple different fillings, which can be used with two different types of pastry, depending on whether the pierogi are to be boiled (and fried if desired), or baked:

• For boiled (or boiled & fried) pierogi, see my Pierogi Ruski recipe;
• For baked pierogi, see my Cream Cheese Pierogi Pastry recipe.

Ground Beef/Venison and Cheese Filling

This recipe is adapted from Emeril Lagasse’s recipe on the Food Network (1). Emeril provides a slightly richer dough to encase the filling, than the dough in my Pierogi Ruski recipe. You can use either.

Like my Pierogi Ruski recipe, this uses farmers cheese, which is a dry cottage cheese. If you cannot find this, use ricotta, or drain the cream off regular cottage cheese.

Ingredients for filling

• ½ lb. ground beef, venison, buffalo, or wild boar
• Unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ lb. soft farmers cheese
• 2 Tbsp minced shallots
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• ½ cup green onions (scallions), chopped
• ¼ – ½ tsp dried marjoram and or dill
• 1 egg

Method for filling

1. Prepare pastry for boiled pierogi (see Pierogi Ruski), or for baked pierogi (see Cream Cheese Pierogi Pastry).
2. Mince shallots and garlic; chop scallions and set these aside in a bowl.
3. Season ground meat with salt, pepper.
4. Heat cast iron skillet over medium heat; add seasoned meat and render about 3 minutes. Remove meat from pan to drain on a paper-lined plate.
5. Combine cheese, meat, shallots, garlic, scallions and egg in mixing bowl, and mix well. Season to taste with more salt and pepper, and marjoram.
6. Shape and cook pierogi following instructions for selected pastry type.

Beef, Potato and Cheese Filling

This recipe is adapted from pierogi recipe suggestions on Cooks.com (2) and the beef and cheese filling recipe (above). The original Cooks recipe calls for cream cheese in the filling, but farmers cheese (or drained cottage cheese) can be used instead. And you can used left-over mashed potatoes instead of riced potato.

Ingredients for filling

• ½ lb. ground beef, venison, buffalo, or wild boar
• Unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 russet potato (or 1 cup leftover mashed potato)
• ½ lb. cream cheese or soft farmers cheese/drained cottage cheese
• 1 – 2 slices bacon
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (optional)
• ¼ – ½ tsp dill (optional, if using hard boiled eggs)

Method for filling

1. Prepare pastry for boiled pierogi (see Pierogi Ruski), or for baked pierogi (see Cream Cheese Pierogi Pastry).
2. Season ground meat with salt, pepper.
3. Cook bacon to render fat. (The meat can be crumbled for another use, or added to the filling).
4. Chop onion fine, and cook in bacon fat, using cast iron skillet over medium heat; add seasoned ground meat and continue to cook until most of the fat is rendered off and the meat is no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Remove to drain on a paper-lined plate.
5. Scrub potato, leaving skin on, then place in saucepan with cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook until just done, about 15 minutes. Cool enough to handle, then peel and press through a ricer, or break them up with a fork. Measure 1 cup for the filling, and refrigerate the remainder for another use.
6. Combine cream cheese (or farmers cheese), meat and onions, potatoes, optional crumbled bacon, and optional hard boiled egg and dill in mixing bowl, and mix well. Season to taste with more salt and pepper.
7. Shape and cook pierogi following instructions for selected pastry type.

Potato, Ground Beef & Pork Filling

This is based on the above recipe, with ingredient changes based on Beef & Pork Pierogi recipe on All Recipes Australia (3)

Prepare as preceding recipe except:

• Omit, or reduce amount of cheese to 4 oz;
• Add crumbled bacon (after cooking to render bacon fat);
• Use 4 – 6 oz each ground beef and ground pork (not seasoned pork);
• Incnlude ½ tsp dill;
• Omit hard-boiled egg.

References

1. Emeril Lagasse’s pierogi recipe on Food Network (foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/polish-pierogies-recipe.html)
2. Cooks.com: Pirozhki, Pierogi, or Vareniki recipes (cooks.com/recipe/d11di9dt/pirozhki-pierogi-or-vareniki.html)
3. All Recipes Australia: Beef and Pork Pierogi (allrecipes.com.au/recipe/8972/beef-and-pork-pierogi.aspx)