My hometown has been elected the “Pierogy Pocket Capital” of the US by a national contest sponsored by Mrs. T’s - two years running, working on our third! St. Michael’s, a local church with scores of volunteers, makes thousands each year to sell by the dozen to the public during Lent. They can make a meal in themselves, or a great side dish. “What IS a pieroghi?” I hear many of you ask (oh, and BTW, it can be spelled many different ways - the title is the way I grew up with)… It’s a delightful pocket of dough stuffed with potato and or cabbage – it’s Eastern Europe’s version of ravioli, or even a wonton or potsticker. For a few years now, my family has gotten together sometime during Lent, and as a group we’ve made several dozen – some for each household to take home, and a few dozen to serve on Easter Sunday with our traditional ham. The day starts with Papa peeling and boiling five to ten pounds of potatoes (Bless you, Papa!). We make two versions: the “adult”, rich with farmer’s cheese, black pepper, sautéed onion and a hint of garlic; and the “kid”, with simply butter, a little sautéed onion, and American cheese. Just mash the potatoes with the desired extra flavorings, mixing well, and let cool until you can handle it. I’m hoping this year we’ll try some cabbage as well. It’s great getting the kids involved. The dough is simple with a food processor (see my favorite recipe for Polish Pieroghi Dough), and we just keep making batches, as we need them. With kids, it’s hard to judge just how far it will go! The dough is very forgiving, and can be rolled at least twice, sometimes more depending on how much flour was on the board (or kid!). If you have a pasta machine, that works, too. (But not as much fun) My favorite tool to cut the circles is a wide-mouth drinking glass; add a little stuffing, fold into a half-moon shape, then cut again to make sure all the edges are clean – but we also use large circular cookie cutters– some with a straight edge, some with scalloped… Some even use those crimper tools for ravioli… in the end, you can pretty much look at each tray and know who made which ones Lay them out on baking sheets (preferably lined with parchment paper) and freeze until solid, then repackage in freezer bags. To serve, drop frozen or fresh pieroghi’s into boiling water – the rest is optional, but I highly recommend it. Sauté sliced onion in butter. Once the pieroghi’s float to the surface, transfer to the saute pan and lightly crisp on each side. Serve with the onions in butter, with sour cream on the side, and a little more black pepper. YUMMMMM!!!!!!!