Pierogies 21, Seahawks 0

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.)

Seahawks @ Pierogies preview.

Our technical advisor on this meal was Evans School Saira, who knows pierogies, having spent two years in Ukraine, and comes from a Polish family near Buffalo-- which apparently makes a better pierogi than the Steel City.

We started to make the mashed potato/cheese/onion filling on Saturday afternoon. Which, for time purposes turned out to be a very good thing. There is peeling, cutting, boiling, more boiling, mashing, adding, mixing, and unlike other foods, if you drop it on the floor it’s a pain to dust off before serving.

Up until last Thanksgiving, when we attempted to make a bowl of fluffy deliciousness, we assumed that mashed potatoes were one of those foods that handily had the directions in their name (like Hot Pockets). Our boil and mash method was a disaster. Turns out you have to add milk, butter, and/or sour cream. This time we were prepared.

They weren’t the best mashed potatoes ever made; however, they were far superior to our previous bowl of dry potato clumps.

In the morning Saira helped us with the dough, and showed us how they roll it out in Ukraine-- with a vodka bottle.

Our sweet cheese filling proved far too runny to be contained by the dough, we only made four in that style. Next time more ricotta. However, those four were far superior to the potato/cheese/onion, and we ate them all in about three bites.

The potato based pierogies really weren’t that flavorful. The bland taste of the dough is pretty strong, but we were responsible for our potato filling overcoming that. Our guests said that they didn’t mind, however, we felt that it was just a case of not wanting to bite the hand that feeds you, half literally.

Next Week—Seahawks vs. Jambalaya, 5:15 pm.