Tag: perogies

Stocking Up

Stocking up on food for winter is about more than simply having a full pantry. It is about being prepared, being practical, and giving yourself a little peace of mind when the world outside becomes less predictable.

For those of us who garden, preserve, and try to live a little more self-reliantly, summer is a natural time to think about what we will need through the coming cold months.

Winter changes the way we get food

In summer, food can feel abundant. The garden is producing, farmers’ markets are overflowing, and fresh produce is readily available. And then there’s winter. In Alberta, that means months of cold, snow – and no local growing. In the past, preparing for winter was critical to having enough food, and keeping your family healthy. In recent generations we’ve become very ‘entitled’, and think we should have everything we want, whenever we want it, but that is not reasonable or sustainable in the long run.

A well-stocked pantry means that when the roads are bad, the weather is miserable, or you simply don’t want to venture out, you already have the makings of good meals at home.

Use the seasons as an analogy. Sometimes ‘winter’ is more than just the months between November and March when the trees are taking a break and the garden is sleeping.

It could be a period of unemployment, when the regular paycheque stops coming. Or an an illness, an unexpected expense that makes the household budget a little tighter than it used to be. Could be a transportation disruption, a shortage, or oh I don’t know …. maybe something completely wild, like – tariffs we’ve never experienced before, or some other circumstance that makes the things we normally take for granted suddenly harder to find.

Sometimes winter is simply a season of uncertainty.

Just as we prepare for the winter that arrives every year, we can prepare for some of these other ‘winters’ too. Stocking up isn’t about living in fear or expecting something terrible to happen. It is about recognizing that life has seasons—and not all of them are predictable.

Many of us have learned to put food by when there is plenty. We preserve the garden harvest, fill the pantry, tuck things into the freezer, and make sure we have some basic staples on hand. We do these things because we know that ‘summer’ won’t last forever.

The wise gardener doesn’t wait for winter to begin before thinking about winter. And perhaps the same principle applies to life. When things are going well is the very best time to prepare for the season when they aren’t.

Eventually, spring comes again.

Stocking up also makes good economic sense

Buying and preserving food when it is plentiful can save money.

When your garden produces more tomatoes, beans, carrots, onions, berries or rhubarb than you can eat immediately, with a few skills, you have an opportunity to turn that abundance into food for later.

The garden doesn’t have to stop feeding you just because the ground freezes.

Potatoes, onions, garlic and jars of roasted tomatoes in the cold room; jars of jam, dried apples and herbs in the pantry, berries and pesto in the freezer, apple cider, kefir and sauerkraut in the fridge – mean that reliance on the grocery store is minimized.

A stocked pantry gives you choices

There is an important difference between having food and having food you will actually eat.

If we’ve been friends for a while, you already know my philosophy has always been to Store what you eat, and eat what you store.

There isn’t much value in filling shelves with foods nobody in the household enjoys. Those jars of gorgeous red crabapple preserves look nice on the shelf but if no one knows how to eat them, they’re a waste of jars.

A practical winter pantry might contain the ingredients your family regularly uses:

  • canned and dried tomatoes
  • dried or canned beans
  • rice, pasta and grains
  • flour and other baking supplies
  • onions, potatoes and other good keepers
  • frozen or dehydrated vegetables
  • fruit, jams and preserves
  • meat and other sources of protein
  • soups, broths and meal ingredients
  • spices, oils and other cooking essentials

And don’t forget the simple things that can be surprisingly inconvenient to run out of in winter – special baking ingredients your family likes, pet food and other household staples like laundry soap and toothpaste.

Preserving your own food adds another layer of security

There is another thing I love about gardening and preserving. When I freeze, dry or can something from my own garden, I know where it came from. I know what I DIDN’T use while I watched it grow. I harvested it when it was ready. I preserved it when it was at its best.

There is something deeply satisfying about opening a jar in February and finding summer inside.

It isn’t merely food storage. It is the continuation of the growing season.

And then there is the emergency side of preparedness

We don’t stock food because we expect disaster.

We stock food because life happens.

Power outages happen. Snowstorms happen. Illness happens. Family emergencies happen. Supply problems happen. Sometimes a person simply doesn’t have the time, money, transportation or physical ability to get to the store.

Having food already in the house gives you breathing room.

You don’t need to panic-buy when life throws you a curve ball, because you have been gradually building your supply all along.

Perhaps most importantly, it is a mindset

Stocking up isn’t about fear. It is about responsibility and self-reliance.

I don’t expect to provide absolutely everything my household might ever need. None of us can.

But I can ask:

What can I reasonably provide for myself?

If I can grow some of my food, preserve some of it, store some of it and keep a reasonable supply of everyday staples on hand, then I have made my household just a little less dependent on circumstances beyond my control.

And I think that is a worthwhile goal.

Winter comes every year. We know that.

So rather than waiting until the shelves are bare or the weather turns nasty, now is the perfect time to look at what we have, decide what we will need, and to begin filling the pantry.

There is a wonderful feeling that comes from looking at a well-stocked pantry in the middle of winter and thinking: “We’re okay. We’ve got food.”

I’d love to hear your ideas about what you stock up on, where you store it, and how you use it in the winter.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

the humble perogy – old world comfort food

Comforting flavours, versatility and deep nostalgic connections to family, culture and tradition are a difficult combination to beat. It’s part of what makes up real “comfort food”, evoking strong feelings of home and family. Perogies are Eastern European dumplings typically filled with a cheesy mashed potato filling, made from unleavened dough. They are boiled and often pan fried with butter and onions, offering a rich, satisfying flavour especially when topped with sour cream and onions. That’s the other part of what makes up real “comfort food” – it’s gotta be delicious. No matter which way you look at it, perogies are THE comfort food of north central Alberta. They can also be filled with meat or sauerkraut, or even fruit for a sweet variation, with the dough providing a soft, sometimes chewy exterior to the soft interior – whatever it happens to be.

After that, its all about personal preference, as perogies are as versatile as you want them to be. They’re incredibly filling, making it the perfect food for hungry kids, and convenient too, easily be made ahead and frozen for later use.
Some simply boil them, and some take the additional step of pan frying them with butter and onions. No matter how you cook them, they’re usually served with sour cream.

I am not a purist. I came to perogies the ‘gentile’ way – when I was a teenager they were introduced to our family by a relative – purchased frozen from the grocery store. Before long we were hooked. A few years later, I married a man with a Ukrainian step mother, and things like perogies and cabbage rolls were never the same in my world again. To be fair – Margaret Suelzle wasn’t a great cook of many other things, but when it came to her Ukrainian specialties she rocked. There wasn’t a festive dinner without homemade perogies and homemade cabbage rolls, and though I still purchased our perogies from the grocery store, we never said such things in her company.

Spelling

Perogy – perogi, perogies (both are plural so don’t stress about it). Pierogy, pierogi – all pronounced Pee-er-oh-gee. Since it’s native to so many different countries, and then considering the translation into English – spelling is pretty much anything you want it to be. In this blog, I’m gonna use them all, just because I can. No judging.

History of Perogies

Originally only served in the poorest of homes, pierogies required nothing more than the basic farm staples of flour and eggs, and whatever you had on hand for a filling (usually potatoes and onions). They’ve been iconic comfort food around Slavic tables since time immemorial. But just because no one can remember time without them, doesn’t mean they don’t have a history. Today, perogies are typically filled with some kind of potato combination, but they took root in Eastern Europe centuries before potatoes were brought from their native South America. Its perogy evolution.

It is believed that they were introduced in the late 13th century by the Venetian merchant, explorer and writer MARCO POLO who spent 24 years in China. When he returned, he brought fascinating stories of his adventures: the strange people he encountered and even stranger animals. And food! He documented many Chinese foods, introducing Europeans to the idea and variety of Asian cuisine, including spices like pepper, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, foods like rice and sugar, as well as preparation methods like dumplings.

Easy to make and flexible about filling, dumplings became a staple food taking all sorts of forms as they filtered through Europe for the next three hundred years. Hungarian dumplings, German spaetzle, small round dumplings filled with minced meat from Russia, spiced meat-filled dumplings from Turkey, gnocchi and ravioli from Italy, and many others.

By the mid 16th century Spanish conquerors brought POTATOES to Europe from their native land of South America. As with most ‘new’ things they took a while to catch on, but when they did, potatoes became a staple all over Europe – especially in the cooler climates where they thrived. It was only a matter of time before some creative cook would find a way to marry the dumpling to the potato. No doubt that creative cook was somebody’s grandmother, as everybody knows the best perogies in the world are made by grammas.

So how did perogies come to Canada?

Though perogies aren’t originally Canadian, they are deeply ingrained in our culture, thanks to large waves of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants. The first Ukrainian settlers arrived in central Alberta in 1891, followed by thousands more before the first world war. With them they brought traditional foods and recipes which were perfectly suited to their new world – as it so closely resembled the climate they left behind. For many today, perogies have become iconic as a ‘Canadian food’, especially among the Ukrainian and Polish populations of the prairies.

The versatility of perogies is endless, with fillings ranging from the savoury potato, sauerkraut and meat, to the sweeter dessert perogies filled with fruit or sweet cheese.

Verna’s mother was an excellent cook – and in this regard, Verna is just like her, always known for her cooking. She raised her 6 kids on traditional favourites like perogies and cabbage rolls, and to this day no festive meal is complete without them.

Verna Zilinski grew up on a farm in the Ukrainian/Polish area of Boyle (160 km north of Edmonton) surrounded by aunts, uncles and cousins. Her mother was born in Ukraine, her father in Alberta. When she was an adolescent her family moved to Edmonton which had become the urban hub for many previous farming families.
– Did you know that the area east of Edmonton is the largest Ukrainian settlement outside of the Ukraine? 10% of Alberta’s population can trace their ancestry from these settlers.

Perogies are labour intensive, but easy, and CHEAP – definitely peasant food, made from whatever was abundant, which for Slavic people were: flour, potatoes and dairy (fresh cheese). Often times it was a simple cottage cheese that every homemaker could make relatively quickly. Verna’s Russian recipe filling below was likely very typical, but be flexible, there was a lot of variation – all depending on what the cook had on hand and their family experience. Cheddar cheese? Feta cheese? Ricotta / cottage cheese? Go for it. Develop your family’s favourite.

DOUGH recipe: makes 30+ perogies

Verna’s perogy dough
3 cups flour
pinch salt
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup oil
1 cup lukewarm water

directions:
1 Prepare dough by mixing everything in.
2 Knead by hand on lightly floured board until smooth and elastic (5-10 minutes).
3 Return to bowl and cover with damp cloth to sit and rest for about 30 minutes.
4. When the dough springs back from a gentle poke, then you’re good to go.
5. Divide the dough into two, and begin rolling out first half (same thickness as you would a pie pastry 1/8 inch or 6 millimetres).
While the second piece of dough is sitting, keep it covered so it doesn’t dry out.
Roll half the dough out being careful to not roll too thin.
Using biscuit cutter, or a large rimmed glass, cut dough.
You can use the scraps to reroll once again but remember, the more you work the dough the tougher it will get.

filling recipe

Verna’s Perogy Filling:
1 pound cooked, peeled potatoes mashed
3/4 pound dry cottage cheese
1 egg
1 medium onion, finely chopped and sauteed in butter
salt + pepper
1/2 cup mellted cup butter
Mash potatoes, mash in cottage cheese till well blended
Add egg, sauteed onion, salt + pepper.

Mash potatoes, mash in cottage cheese till well blended
Add egg, sauteed onion, salt + pepper.

Roll the dough out to a pie crust thickness (see above), and cut – using biscuit cutter or large mouth glass. Using a heaping tablespoon of the COOLED filling, fold the dough over into a half moon shape and pinch the edges firmly to seal. Go back and crimp again to ensure you’ve got a good tight seal with no air inside.
Set aside on a lightly floured surface. If you’re planning to freeze them, set them on a lightly floured tea towel. Once frozen it’s a lot easier to remove them from the tray this way.  

how to fill and seal perogies

Bring large pot of water to boil.  Add a teaspoon salt.  
When boiling, drop perogies into water.  Stir gently while adding so they don’t stick to the bottom. 
Don’t over crowd, you can do a second batch if needed.

Gently boil till perogies float, stirring from time to time.  Continue cooking another two or three minutes till tender.  
Remove to a serving dish with a slotted spoon.  
You can drizzle melted butter over top to prevent sticking.  
Cook another batch if needed.  

To Serve
I like them with sour cream and chopped fresh chives or green onions. 
Dan is not a fan of sour cream.  He likes his perogies with butter and sauteed chopped onions.  
Many also like to serve with bacon bits, or cooked sausage.  

Suggested fillings:
mashed potato and cottage cheese
mashed potato and shredded cheddar
sauerkraut
sauerkraut and mushrooms

Dessert Perogies

filling: 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries + 1/2 cup sugar + 2 T flour
use remaining blueberries to add a little water and simmer a few minutes to make a sauce
when all are cooked, pour 1/2 cup melted butter over top and sprinkle with 2 T sugar
serve with blueberry sauce and sour cream

For sweeter dessert perogies use fruit or mild cheese. Blueberries, saskatoons, currants, dried apricots, fig and apple sauce, mozzarella cheese or a favourite cheese that goes well with fruit. What do you have on hand?

Remember the humble beginnings of perogies, and the gentle people who made them. Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.

Perogies have kept their status as an inexpensive family meal, but they’re also a very popular side dish that can be pretty fancy if you want. If you’re creative, go all the way with it. If you’re a purist and must stick to your gramma’s original recipe, then rock on. It’s a whole new world out there. And in the spirit of the people who depended on them, use what you have.

Enjoy

Warmly,


Cindy Suelzle