Tonight I made a similar variation on filled pasta, raw pierogi! Considered the national dish of Poland, pierogi are essentially dumplings made of unleavened dough, which are then filled with various ingredients. Popular in my house, especially on Christmas eve, the best pierogi known to man come from the Polish Deli of Yonkers, NY, which you will find on Nepperhan Avenue. I've always been partial to the sauerkraut filled, but the potato and cheese, or potato and onion are also delicious options. Christmas in my house simply wouldn't be Christmas without their pierogi. It would be, Instead, like a really ill-timed and disappointing version of Arbor day, or something equally unmemorable.
The raw version, courtesy of Ani Phyo's "Raw Food Essentials," was an instant favorite! I can't wait for lunch tomorrow! Even better, it involved very little preparation, looks great plated, and a small portion was very satisfying.
This one involves a couple of Sub-recipes:
For the filling:
1/4 cup sauerkraut
1/4 cup coconut bacon (this requires coconuts and a food dehydrator, neither of which I was equipped with at that particular moment in time. I am pleased to say that the pierogi still kicked some coconut-baconless keister!)
2 cups of simple cheese:
2 cups nuts (I used pine nuts and cashews)
1 tsp of fresh garlic (1-2 cloves depending on their size)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
For sauce/garnish:
Miso butter:
2 tbsp raw white miso
1/2 cup softened coconut butter
Cashew Parmesan:
Handful of cashews
One clove of garlic
Pinch of salt
For the pierogi:
Yellow beets, thinly sliced with a mandolin
Still with me? I promise this is mere minutes of work despite the somewhat chaotic conglomeration of sub-recipes and prep instructions. Seriously, the whole thing took 20 minutes. No joke. I would not lie to you about something as serious as pierogi.
Moving on. For the cheese, all ingredients in the Vitamix, blend until smooth. For the miso butter, combine ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a spoon. It might help to warm the butter slightly to soften and mix the ingredients. It won't take much heat though, remember that going above 118 F is enough to kill the living enzymes in your food, at which point it is no longer raw. 118 is the high limit by the way, and the more accepted 104 should be a general rule of thumb.
Mix the cheese with the sauerkraut (drained of its excess liquid y pressing I paper towels) and layout slices of yellow beet on your plates. Top each slice with a teaspoon or so of the filling, add a second slice of beet, and garnish with a schmear of miso butter and a sprinkle of cashew Parmesan.
Super easy, right? I loved these, and while I will stick to the Real thing from the Polish Deli on Christmas Eve, these will be a welcome presence on my dinner table year round!
On a side note, Ani Phyo instructs you to "drizzle" the miso butter on top of the pierogi. She must know some trick for melting it at a low enough temperature, because the closest I could get without heating it up was a "wet brown sugar" sort of consistency, and therefore I was forced to schmear rather than drizzle. Either way, these things were kickin!
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Location:Madison, CT
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