Recipe Box

Gruyère and Caramelized Onion Pierogi

Makes approx. 50 pierogi (possibly more, maybe less, I always forget to count)
3hrs

Growing up, my grandpa use to host a traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner every year. The menu included mushroom soup, a garlicky mashed pea dish that only my dad liked, and deep-fried golden chrusciki dusted with powdered sugar for dessert. Our favorite part, of course, was always the pierogies. My cousins and I used to weigh ourselves before and after dinner to see who could eat the most. He usually made at least four flavors: farmer's cheese, potato, saurkraut, and prune. In 2020, my grandpa passed away and I made it my mission to develop a gluten-free pierogi recipe to honor these Christmas Eve meals. TBH, I cried tears of joy when I took a bite of my first gluten-free pierogi. This recipe is an updated potato-cheese pierogi, inspired by the potatoes au gratin with gruyère that my mom always makes on Christmas Day.

Ingredients

• The Dough:
• • 2 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 is the best!)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 egg
  • 2/3 cup water, plus extra
• The Onions:
• • 2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp butter
  • 2 large onions
  • 1/4 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
  • 2 tsp sherry vinegar
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme
• The Filling:
• • 5 medium potatoes
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 block of gruyere cheese, shredded
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
• For Serving:
• • Sour cream
  • Fresh chives
  • Butter

Preparation

• First, prepare the onions:
• 1. Roughly chop onions into 1/2” sized pieces.
  2. Melt olive oil and butter in a pan over medium low heat. Add onions and a pinch of salt.
  3. Once onions begin to sizzle, turn the heat to low. Slowly cook the onions, stirring frequently until they begin to take on a rich caramel color, about 45 minutes. You'll be tempted to turn up the heat, but I promise, keeping it going low. It'll make for much more tender and evenly caramelized onions. If time is precious, you can add a spoonful of sugar to speed up the caramelization.
  4. Once onions are caramelized, remove about 1/4 of them from the pan and set aside. (You'll be adding these to the filling, so you can also take more or less, depending on what you'd like and the size of your potatoes).
  5. Turn the heat back up to medium, and add the 1/4 cup chicken stock, 2 tsp sherry vinegar, and fresh thyme sprig. Bring up to a simmer, and reduce until the sauce thickens and nicely coats the onions, sort of like a caramelized onion jam. You can do this again with another splash of chicken stock to really concentrate the flavors. The goal is to make a warm spoonable onion sauce to drizzle over the final fried pierogi.
  6. Taste the onion jam/sauce and adjust for seasoning. Remove the thyme sprig.
  7. When finished, set aside. Onions can be made a day or two in advance and reheated when ready to eat.
• Next, make the filling:
• 1. Peel and quarter potatoes.
  2. Add the potatoes to a large pot, cover with water, and salt them generously.
  3. Bring up to a boil, and cook the potatoes until a fork pierces them easily, about 20-30 minutes. Tip: Bringing the potatoes and water up to a boil together will help them cook more evenly. Also there's no need to worry, then, about accidentally splashing yourself with scalding hot water when dropping potatoes into it. Not that that's happened to me..)
  4. When tender, drain the potatoes and add them back to the warm pot. The residual heat will help any leftover moisture evaporate from the potatoes.
  5. Add butter and heavy cream. Using a potato masher, roughly mash the mixture together.
  6. Add the shredded gruyere cheese and reserved caramelized onions, and stir.
  7. Set aside, and let cool. Like the onions, the potato filling can be made a day or two ahead.
• Now, the best part! Pierogi making!
• 1. To make the dough, combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the sour cream, egg, and water. Stir to combine, gradually pulling in more flour from the outer edges of the bowl.
  2. When the dough becomes too firm to stir, begin kneading with your hands. Depending on the type of gluten-free flour you used, you may need to adjust the water. If the dough seems really dry, add a tablespoon more. It should be soft but not sticky. Knead until the dough feels supple and bouncy.
  3. Cover with an overturned bowl or plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes to let the dough fully hydrate.
  4. Meanwhile, bring out the potato cheese filling you prepared earlier and assemble your equipment. You will need a small spoon, a rolling pin, a 2-3” circular cookie cutter (or I just use a cup), some plastic wrap, extra flour, and a bench scraper. Since the dough is more fragile than gluten-y dough, the bench scraper comes in handy for picking up the circles from your work surface without tearing them.
  5. Once the dough has rested, it is time to start forming the pierogi. First, flour your work surface generously. Then, divide the dough into halves or quarters to make rolling out the dough more manageable.
  6. Piece by piece, roll the dough out a little over 1/8” thick. (It may take some trial and error to find a thickness that's nice and delicate but still strong enough for the filling).
  7. Cut out circles of dough using your chosen tool. Remove the scraps and add them the the next chunk of dough to be rolled out. Use your bench scraper to place the circles of dough between layers of lightly floured plastic wrap. This will prevent them from drying out while you roll out the rest of the dough. (If you have extra hands helping you assemble your pierogi, however, you can skip this step and hand the dough directly to your filler!)
  8. To fill the pierogi, flour your hands lightly and place one round of dough in your non-dominant hand. Using a teaspoon, drop approximately 1/2 tablespoon of filling into the center of the circle. You can nudge it off the spoon with your thumb of the hand holding the dough, but once you touch the filling don't touch the dough or else it'll get sticky!
  9. With the hand holding the dough, begin to fold the dough up. It should kind of look like a hard shell taco. Use your index finger of your dominant hand to keep the filling in place.
  10. Wipe your dominate hand clean, then starting from one end of the dumpling, pinch the seams of the dough together around the filling. If some filling squeezes out at the other end, just wipe it away and try to seal the dough as well as possible. Do not panic if the dough tears while forming the pierogi, just try to pinch it back together. It might leak a little when boiling but it will still taste delicious. If it's a very large tear, it may just be worth scrapping the dumpling and trying again.
  11. Place the formed pierogi on a baking sheet, and cover in plastic wrap. Repeat until all dough/filling has been used.
  12. Next, bring a large pot of salted water up to a boil, and add a splash of oil. Add the pierogis a handful at a time. Cook the pierogis for approximately 3 minutes until they rise to the surface. After that, cook 1 more minute.
  13. Using a spider or slotted spoon, remove the pierogi from the water and set aside on a lightly oiled plate. You can totally eat the boiled pierogis as is. I like to test one out at this point for quality assurance ;). This is also a good stopping point if you are making your pierogis ahead of time. Once cooled, you can refrigerate them up for up to two days. Or, freeze the boiled pierogis for future emergency cravings. When it comes time to reheat just defrost and follow the next steps.
  14. Once all the pierogis have been boiled, it's time to fry them!
  15. In a large non-stick skillet, melt two tablespoons butter over medium heat. (If frying frozen pierogis it is best to do this over low heat).
  16. Add the pierogis in a single layer and cook, turning every now and then, until they are nicely golden brown on both sides. It's best to work in batches as to not overcrowd the pan. It's okay if some of the cheese from the filling starts to ooze out. Actually it'll just make the pierogis even better. It'll create that wonderful crispy cheesy lace like on the edges of a perfect grilled cheese.
  17. Meanwhile, while the pierogis are frying warm up the reserved onion topping, either on the stovetop or in the microwave.
  18. When the pierogis are golden, remove from the pan and plate. Top with the warmed onions, a generous dollop of sour cream, and a sprinkling of fresh chives.