STUFFED PIEROGI

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An old-world entree to brighten winter menus:

Karen Ducayne

Unfortunately, about the time of year when dinner starts to become the highlight of an otherwise drab winter day, the meals—alas—often seem to be infected by the sameness of the gray weather. And when that happens, it's time for the chief cook to broaden his or her recipe repertoire. (Of course, if the resulting new dish is delicious, relatively inexpensive to prepare, filling, and unusual enough to intrigue the jaded palates of adults—yet not repel the suspicious tastebuds of small fry—so much the better.)

Well, I'm proposing the perfect candidate for chasing away the I'm-tired-of-casserole/ boiled-dinner/stew blues: pierogi, little ribsticking stuffed dumplings. They're among my family's favorite cold-weather foods, and I'm pretty confident that they'll get a warm reception at your dinner table, too. The recipe was passed along to me by my Ukrainian grandmother, and will probably look familiar to folks of Slavic descent.

The name (it's also spelled "pirogi" and "pieroghi") is the plural form of the Russian word pirog, which means a small turnover or pie. And although the Russians claim credit for developing this particular dish, one form or another of the dumpling—including Italian ravioli and American fried pies—appears in almost every nation's cuisine.

PIEROGI PASTRY

My recipe is slightly time-consuming, so it might be a good idea to prepare it the day before you actually want to serve your pierogi, or at least to set aside an afternoon in which to tackle it. There are two parts to the turnovers, so I'll start with instructions for making the dough. You'll need these ingredients:

3 cups of unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 egg (slightly beaten)
3/4 cup of water

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