Spring look + Pierogi.

Even if temperatures are still freezing cold – as soon as the sun makes an appearance, I really feel like bright colors and light fabrics. 

I am wearing a super soft leather jacket with a relaxed cut, a draped blouse with matte gold bindings and an oversize scarf (and a belt that is hidden beneath the blouse) – a pretty and uncomplicated look for every day.

The leather jacket’s color magically ensures a lovely complexion! 

If you like wearing big scarves, you will love this one for spring – it is a striking statement piece and matches a white T-shirt and jeans as well as a blazer. 

To conclude our time with my mom I wrote down the recipe for the Polish Pierogi – a rather time-consuming affair, as it went something like this: 

Mother: "So you take a bit of flour and water…” 

Me: "... how much flour? How much water exactly?” 

Mother: "Well, enough so you end up with an elastic dough.” 

Me: "Mom, that’s not good enough. I have to know it exactly.” 

Mother: "Well…I don’t know…roughly, maybe….and then some chicken…” 

Me: "How much exactly?”

Mother: "Follow your intuition."

Me: "Mom, we are not getting anywhere here! I can hardly tell 30.000 people to “follow their intuition”!” 

Mother: "And the cooking time…kind of follow your intuition…” 

And so on.

Now do try to put in writing a recipe in all its details, which has been passed down in your family for generations and is prepared blindly, so to speak! 

My mother actually does not measure the amount of flour or any other ingredient for this and REALLY prepares everything following her intuition – which, for me personally, makes her the Godmother of Cooking. 

When I watch her cook I feel like I don’t know ANYTHING. 

Polish Pierogi

dough:

2 ½ cups flour

1tsp salt

warm water (warmer than lukewarm) 

1 egg (optional, omitting it works just as well) 

filling:

14 oz fillet of chicken

1 large onion

1 bunch of parsley

salt, pepper

2 Tbsp creme fraiche

oil

vegetables:

1 ½ pints cherry tomatoes, halved 

1/2 bunch green onions, sliced  

9 oz mushrooms, sliced

4 Tbsp olive oil

Mix together flour, salt and egg, then add water bit by bit, while kneading with your hands, until you obtain an elastic dough. 

(if it is too sticky, sprinkle a bit more flour on it, if it is too stiff, add some more water, etc.). 

Cover the dough with a clean dish towel.  

Filling:

Cut chicken fillet into thin strips, sauté briefly and remove from the frying pan. 

Sauté finely chopped onion at low heat, until translucent. 

Purée the meat with a hand-held mixer, not too finely ( you shouldn’t end up with a homogenous mixture). 

Add the onion, minced parsley and crème fraiche to the meat mixture and generously add salt and pepper. 

Divide the dough in two parts, leave one part in the covered bowl, roll out the other half on a work surface, sprinkled with flour, to about 1/8” thickness. 

Cut out circles with the help of a glass, place about 1 tsp of the filling in the middle of a circle, fold it in half and firmly press the dough together along the edges with your fingers.  

In the meantime briefly sauté the mushrooms in olive oil, then add the tomatoes and green onions and cook everything for about 2 minutes more, add salt and pepper. 

Bring a large pot of salt water to a boil, reduce heat (water should not be boiling briskly), add Pierogi, a few at a time. 

They will first sink to the bottom, but rise to the surface shortly after that – cook for another 2-3 minutes. 

Remove with a slotted spoon and serve together with the vegetables. 

Lastly, my mom asked me to tell you that while the recipe might seem labor-intensive, the actual preparation is in fact child’s play. 

“Or else they will shy away from it…these days, when nobody prepares pasta dough from scratch anymore.” 

Sources of supply:

leather jacket: HERE

blouse: HERE

XXL scarf: HERE

belt: HERE

everything by Dein Lieblingsladen

Great news:

There’s a sale on at Dein Lieblingsladen and, among other things, my favorite sweater (the one I wore yesterday) is available at a reduced price!

Addendum:

Because the question just came up:

You can see not only my mom HERE, but also another two of her recipes. 

Love from 

Joanna (who has never in her life prepared fresh pasta dough.) 

P.s.

The slim-fitting jacket allows you to move absolutely unrestrictedly, because the leather is so soft and of such high quality – not quite unimportant, if you need to chase after small kids, for example.  

I, however, …

a) neither have small kids, 

b) nor will I have to chase after my teenagers soon, 

c) much less serve them hand and foot.

I will tell you in my next post why this is so. 

Cliffhanger par excellence!

Tadaaaa!

This post was translated by Ginnell Studio.