Ruskie Pierogi

With that crisp smell of Autumn in the air, I long for German food. Well, let's clarify that a little. Not exactly German, but Polish food. Close enough right? I mean, the countries do border each other and were at one time one kingdom. My mother-in-law is of Norwegian descent and my father-in-law is Polish. When my hubby and I first started dating I was quickly coerced, I mean gently shoved, into trying Polish cuisine. Well, it wasn't really a choice. It was either eat it or spend our first Thanksgiving together without food. Turns out, I love it despite my initial hesitation of all things sauerkraut. I could eat my weight in pierogi, bratwurst, or kaluski and kapusta. It gets a little confusing with all the Oktoberfest jargon though.

Our family celebrates this regional cuisine, along with the trusty turkey and southern cornbread dressing, in November during the US Thanksgiving holidays. The original Oktoberfest, however, was held October 12, 1810 in Munich to commemorate the marriage of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Traditionally, the festival always ended on the first Sunday in October, and began 16 days prior to that date. The royalty decided to hold their anniversary festivities at the end of September because the weather is usually nicer in Germany then. Most recently, though, the dates have been extended to include German Unity Day which is October 3, regardless of what day of the week that actually falls on.

Pierogi is the Polish term for stuffed dumplings. When someone says they had pierogi though, you never know exactly what they were eating because Polish people use this word indiscriminately to mean any kind of filling from fruit to meat. For those poor souls who don't know what a pierog looks like, they are very similar to oversized half-moon ravioli, Chinese pot stickers, or the tiny fried pies that my grandmother used to make. Unfortunately, we don't make them very often, usually once or twice a year because they are relatively time-consuming. I will post a sumptuous picture of these little jewels later.

This is my mother-in-law's version of the Ruskie Pierogi, literally translated as Russian Pierogi. Don't ask me why they call it that. Maybe for "ruski" which was the Polish word for the Ruthenian region of Bavaria, or today's Ukraine. Ruski Pierogi are made with onion, potatoes and cheese, traditionally farmer's cheese. We have southernized it and now use Velveeta Cheese. Also, partly for time conservation and partly from popular opinion, we use jumbo pasta shells instead of the potato pastry. I just can't express how much I love these. Crispy on the edges, gooey and cheesy on the inside, savory onion butter dripping all over, mmmmmm. It doesn't get much better than this. This recipe feeds a Thanksgiving crowd. You can scale as needed. I usually fill the shells the night before, chill them and then pour over the onion and butter and bake just before serving.

Serves 10-12

5 lb red skinned-potatoes, peeled and chunked
1 large block Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 lb jumbo pasta shells, cooked almost done
½ c. butter
1 jumbo onion, or 2 medium, finely chopped

1. Boil potatoes until fork tender.
2. Mash slightly and then while still hot add cheese and continue mashing and stirring until smooth.
3. Fill each pasta shell with the potato mixture.
4. As you go, place the shells open side up in a greased 13x9" baking dish, stacking is fine.
5. Preheat oven 350°.
6. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, add the onion and cook until translucent.
7. Pour onion mixture evenly over shells.
8. Bake 25-30 min.