Pierogi Lunch

For our luncheon today, (I love saying luncheon it sounds so Victorian) evil scientist girlfriend Benski and I decided to try some Trader Joes brand frozen Cheddar & Potato Perogi. If you're unfamiliar with pirogi, they're like Polish potstickers or eastern european gyoza. They typically consist of a pasta like dough pocket filled with some sort of potato mixture. Steamed or boiled and then pan fried and then topped with some sort of sauce is the standard suggested procedure for preparation. We decided to have just the pirogis themselves without any sauce today with a nice tossed salad on the side.

So while the water was boiling and Benski was prepping the salad I rocked out a lovely dressing that I used to make all the time but hadn't in recent memory. It's a delicious Dijon aioli that Scalo used to serve as a salad dressing back in the late eighties when it was one of the best places in town. Since I eyeballed all my ingredients the proportions might not be dead on but try it anyway, it's delectable.

Dijon Aioli
1 egg
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
3 Tsp white or cider vinegar
1/4- 1/3 cup olive oil
Pinch Kosher Salt
2 grinds of Fresh black pepper

In a blender or small processor pulse the mustard, egg, vinegar salt and pepper then slowly stream in olive oil until mixture thickens to about mayo consistency. Easy and tasty.

Once the salted water was boiling I tossed the Pirogis in for about six minutes while I sauteed some diced white onion. Once the pirogis were done and drained I removed the onions and tossed them into the hot pan with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and sauteed til they were a bit brown and crunchy looking.

After adding back in the onions I micro-planed on some Vermont super dry white cheddar on top and let that melt. The pirogis turned out really well, but I could have sauteed them a bit longer to get more crunchy goodness but all in all they had nice consistency and texture. I do think the onions made a big difference, delivering that nice bit of character to the dish. I really want to make these from scratch some day soon and see how they are maybe with a nice marinara or possibly a brown gravy... mmmm yum. We got these at Trader Joes in the frozen section and I think paid $3-4 for the package that fed us both nicely. Combine that with a total cook time of maybe 15 minutes and I think we have another addition to the household's fast, inexpensive yet delicious culinary constraints.