Red Beans & Rice Pierogies
Mad man? Genius? Heretic? You decide. I was inspired to combine two of my favorite peasant dishes- one Old World, one New World- and came up with Red Beans & Rice Pierogi. Pierogies are Polish/Eastern European dumplings that are stuffed with almost anything you can think of. My go to flavor growing up was Grandma’s potato and cheese, pan-fried with kielbasa. While cleaning out the freezer I found a little bit of red beans mixture (no rice) from the last time I made some. I thought making some rice and combining with the leftover beans would make the filling thick enough to stay in the pierogi dough when stuffing, folding, and pinching shut. Here’s how I made them…
I followed the Allrecipes Pierogi Dough recipe for the dough. It works well and is very simple. After letting it rest for two hours, I rolled it out and stuffed them. I use a large Bell jar lid as a cookie cutter. Pinch the edges shut and I press a fork along the edge to give them that traditional, textured edge. Put wax paper on cookie sheets and line the finished pierogies up on cookie sheets and freeze them.
When ready to serve, boil a large pot of water with a little salt added and drop some of the pierogies in, stirring so they don’t stick to each other or the bottom. They should float after about 3-4 minutes. That is when they are heated through. Scoop them out and move them into a hot pan with melted butter. You can sauté onions with them at this point. I think you can also brown up some andouille slices to make it an even more Cajunesque dish. Serve with some sliced green onions and your favorite hot sauce.