I have recently returned from a super, short holiday in Gdańsk during which I tried out many old favourites and several new dishes.
I tried pierogi in several restaurants, choicing some unusual fillings and have been inspired to make them with some new fillings.
I did find that some of the meaty ones were too big – I use a 7cm diameter cutter, which for me gives a better filling to pasta ratio. and have been inspired to make some with some new fillings.
I had several delicious meals in a restaurant in the Old Town called Gvara– the name is based on the Polish word gwara which means dialect (Polish does not have the letter v !). This restaurant serves Polish cuisine – often with a modern take and it has given me much inspiration for some new recipes.
One of the dishes there was pierogi with duck in the filling.
On the way back to the airport the taxi driver told me that his wife would be cooking duck with red cabbage for Easter Sunday – this set me thinking!
Because I had several ducks in the freezer, I roasted these and took off all the meat – however in the future I would just buy duck breasts or legs and roast or poach them.
3 Duck Fillings
Cooked duck meat – roasted or poached – is used in these recipes – amouts are not critical.
Fillings must be left to go cold before using.
Duck & Apple
- 150g of cooked duck meat
- 4 eating apples – Braeburn or Coxes are good
Method
- Core the apples and place them in a oven proof dish
- Cook them in a medium oven until the flesh is soft
- Scope out all the apple flesh
- Chop or mince the cooked duck meat
- Combine the duck and apple flesh together.
Serve with melted butter – here on Royal Worcester – Evesham from 1961 onwards.
Duck, Red Cabbage & Cranberries
- 150g of cooked duck meat
- 300g red cabbage
- 50g of dried cranberries
- 1 tablespoon of butter
Method
Rather than boiling, steaming or slow cooking the red cabbage, I used a sort of stir-fry & braising method which worked really well.
- Put the cranberries in a dish a cover them with some boiling water and leave them for about half an hour.
- Shred the cabbage.
- In a deep frying/ saucepan heat some water and add the butter.
- Stir in the cabbage and simmer gently for a few minutes.
- Cover the pan – a glass lid is good so you can see what is happening – you need to check and stir occasionally.
- Simmer for around 10 minutes.
- Add the cranberries & water, stir and on put the lid back on.
- Simmer for around 10 to 15 minutes.
- Keep a check on the water so it does not dry out.
- If the cabbage has not cooked enough – adjust the water and cook for a bit longer.
- Leave to cool completely
- Use a mini-chopper or stick blender to shred the cabbage mixture.
- Chop or mince the cooked duck meat.
- Combine the duck and cabbage & cranberry mixture together.
Serve with melted butter – here on La prune by Jet for Ter Steege in The Netherlands.
Duck & Sauerkraut
- 150g of cooked duck meat
- Around half a large jar of sauerkraut
- 1 onion
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- Pepper to taste
Method
- Put the sauerkraut with the liquid from the tin or jar into a pan and cover with boiling water.
- Simmer the sauerkraut gently for about 30 minutes.
- Then uncover and boil off as much of the liquid as possible – without burning the sauerkraut.
- Allow the boiled sauerkraut to cool.
- Strain it using a sieve and pressing it down with a spoon to get the mixture as dry as possible (If you want you can put the strained mixture into a clean dry cotton or linen teacloth, twist the ends together to squeeze it to get it really dry).
- Chop the sauerkraut finely with a sharp knife.
- Chop the onion finely and fry it gently in the butter until it is soft and golden – leave it to cool.
- Chop or mince the cooked duck meat.
- Combine the cabbage mixture, the fried onion and the chopped sauerkraut.
- Add some pepper to taste.
Fried pierogi
All the butter coated pierogi that are not eaten can be fried up later – equally delicious!
I have written much previously about pierogi – but have included the instructions for the dough again below.
Ingredients – Dough
- 250g pasta flour or strong flour or plain flour & 2 tablespoons of fine semolina
- 150ml water
- 1 tablespoon oil – sunflower or light olive
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg yolk
Method
- In a jug or bowl mix together the water, oil and the yolk.
- Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
- Pour in the liquid from the jug and initially use a knife to mix this into the flour and then use your hands to mix the liquid and flour to get a ball of dough.
- Turn this out onto a floured board and knead the dough for a few minutes until you have a smooth ball.
- Cut the dough into quarters.
- On a floured board roll out a quarter at a time until you have a sheet of thinly rolled dough.
- Now prepare a large tray and cover it with a clean tea towel and sprinkle this with flour.
- Have a large surface such as a tray covered with a cotton or linen cloth which has been lightly floured ready and place the sealed pierogi on this until they are all made, do not let then touch each other.
- I cut them out using a 7 cm diameter cutter.
- The excess dough can be re-mixed and rolled out again.
- Around a half tablespoon of filling is put on each circle and then they are folded over and the edges pinched together to make a good seal.
- You learn from experience how much filling to put in as too much will make it hard to seal them and if not properly sealed they will burst on boiling. Do not worry if you have a few mishaps – it still happens to me even with experience – it is hard to salvage one that has gone wrong – just accept that there will be a few that you do not cook.
- To cook the pierogi, use a large pan of boiling water to which you have added some salt and a drizzle of oil.
- Drop the pierogi in one by one and allow them to boil. I usually do about 6 to 8 at a time (I only do 6 at a time if using frozen ones).
- As they cook they will float to the surface, let them boil for 2 to 3 minutes, a bit more if they were frozen, and then remove them with a slotted or perforated spoon and put into a colander above a pan for a few seconds to drain and serve.
- Continue boiling batches in the same water.
- If you want to make all the pierogi to serve together then you need to get a large shallow dish and put the melted butter into the dish
- Keep the dish warm in a low oven.
- As you take out the cooked pierogi add them to the dish, mix them with the butter to prevent them sticking.
- Keep on adding more as they cook and keep shaking the dish to coat and mix them.
