First things first, don’t get all upset at me … this recipe is more of a feel recipe. You have to do it a few times to really perfect things. The ingredients aren’t measured out to exact preciseness and the directions are pretty general, at best. I learned how to make pierogi while living in Boston about six years ago from a Polish friend. It’s a fairly long process, especially for one person, so try to round up some friends and family and crank out 100 of them at once. The recipe below will make you around 30-ish dumplings.

Ingredients (for dough)

-2 cups flour
-1 cup boiling water
-2 eggs
-1 TBSN salt

Ingredients (for filling)

-2 small packages of mushrooms (button or baby Bella work great)
-1/2 stick of unsalted butter
-4-5 cloves of garlic (minced)
-2 cups plain bread crumbs
-salt and pepper to taste

Directions for Filling

1. Make the mushroom filling first. This will give it time to cool when you are making the dough.
2. Chop the mushrooms as fine as possible. Same with the garlic. Place garlic, mushrooms, and butter into a large pot on medium heat.
3. Cook for about 5 minutes. Once the mushrooms start cooking down and releasing moisture, add bread crumbs … but just a little at a time and stir. Continue until the mixture thickens … it’s around 2 cups of bread crumbs. Add salt and pepper.
4. Remove from stove and let cool.

Directions for Dough

1. Clear off a large area (like a kitchen table). Take 2 cups of flour, place on table and create a small well with your fingers.
2. Place two eggs inside the well. Add salt.
3. With your hands, mix the egg and flour until it’s fairly clumpy but evenly mixed.
4. Take a small amount of water and add to the flour/egg mixture … but just a little at a time and be careful not to burn your hands. Knead the dough. Continue to add small amounts of water at a time until you have a nice ball of dough. I’d knead for about 5-10 minutes.
5. Wrap dough in Saran wrap and let sit for 10 minutes.
6. Take a small amount of flour and spread on table and on a rolling pin.
7. Remove dough from Seran and flatten out. Roll the dough with your pin, forming a large, thin circle … much like a pizza. Just make sure the dough is quite thin.
8. Make circles using the top of a glass. This will give you about 30-ish small dumpling wrappers.
9. Set aside.

Making Your Dumplings

1. Take a wrapper and add a small amount of water with your fingers along the edges. Next, take a small amount of mushroom filling and place in the center of each wrapper.
2. Fold and push down the edges, making sure the wrapper is completely closed.
3. Repeat until all dumplings are constructed.
4. Add around 7-10 dumplings to a pot of boiling water.
5. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove dumplings from water and place in a bowl. Add some butter, Parm, sliced green onions, and a pinch of Kosher salt to garnish.