I had some frozen pierogis and decided to go traditional this time instead of a sauce, so here we go!
Ingredients:
- Pre-made potato and cheese pierogis, thawed (I used 12 total)
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 5 strips bacon, cooked and chopped
- 1/4 white onion, julienned
- Sour cream
- Basil
- Salt
- Pepper
Equipment:
- Large sauté pan
- Cutting board and chef’s knife
- Tongs
- Stove top
Directions:
1) Place sauté pan on medium-high heat and add all of the butter.
2) While butter is melting, cut the cap and heal from a white onion and then cut into quarters. Peel one quarter and julienne into thin strips.
3) Add pierogis to the now melted and hot butter in a circle around the pan with the flat side down, leaving the center of the pan open. I did 5 at a time.
4) After 3 minutes, flip the pierogi using tongs, leave in the pan for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside on paper towels to drain.
5) Once all pierogis are cooked, add the onions to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Stir constantly for 1 minute.
6) Add bacon to cooking onions, cook for 1 minute or until bacon reaches desired crispiness.
7) Plate pierogis and scoop out onions and bacon over the pierogis. Pour some of the browned butter over the top. Garnish with sour cream and chopped basil.
I personally loathe sour cream unless it’s an ingredient in something, so I left the sour cream off of mine. Meanwhile, Chelsea isn’t a fan of sautéed onions on her pierogi, which meant I got all of that buttery deliciousness to myself. This is a very simple recipe that uses pre-made pierogis (I know, cardinal sin! The chef is using pre-made stuff!) but I just ain’t got the time nor patience to make pierogis. I’m a big fan of The Pierogi Guy based out of Utica. You can find his stuff at Green Hill Farms in Nedrow or M Ascioti’s Meatballs & More in Solvay, but these were simple Mrs T’s brand that can be found at any grocery store.
I feel like browned butter is a massively overlooked sauce when it comes to flavor, especially because a lot of home cooks don’t know how to do it. It’s the simplest thing to make because it’s one ingredient, but it’s also very simple to mess up by overcooking or burning the butter fats. I always avoid high heat for browning butter as high heat will almost guarantee the fats to burn before the butter can brown. So just keep it around a medium heat and you should be fine.
Try this recipe out, let me know how it goes! Drop a comment! You can find more pictures and posts about my food at my Instagram, @chef.gregg.wright!
