Shaker Gourmet: Beef Pirogies

The recipe this week comes from Shaker KathleenB who says: "This is actually an adaptation (redaction) of a medieval Scandinavian recipe done by a friend for an SCA feast. These are amazing and all parts (the dough, the filling, filled but uncooked pirogi and cooked ones as well) freeze beautifully."

Beef Pirogies by Ernmas
Dough

4c all purpose flour
1tsp salt
1/4tsp baking powder
2tsp vegetable oil
1c warm water
1 egg, beaten

--In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. Make a well in the center.

--In a separate bowl, mix vegetable oil, water and beaten egg. Pour into well and mix. Knead 10 minutes.

--Cover dough and let rest 2 hours. Roll to about 1/8 inch thick and cut into 5 inch circles.

Filling

1 medium yellow onion, chopped fine
1 lb ground beef
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp pepper
1/2tsp dill
1tsp garlic
2 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
Pirogi dough or pre-made pie crust (you'll probably need at least four boxes of the refrigerated kind of dough, depending on how you cut it)

--Heat oven to 400°.

--Cook onion until soft over medium heat. Add ground beef, breaking up all lumps. Cook beef until brown and drain well. Add remaining ingredients.

--Spoon filling onto half of the dough, fold over and seal edges. Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is brown.

Kathleen added: "Make sure you cut the dough into large enough circles or squares - too small and you lose the ideal crust-to-filling ratio. When I made these, the only yellow onion I could find was labeled sweet - next time I make these, I'll probably use a savory onion. These are good hot, cold and in between and make great snacks. I also used only the egg white and didn't chop anything nearly as fine as Ernmas did, but the turned out really well."

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