Pizzogi

Sometimes my culinary genius surprises me.
There I was – sitting in class, daydreaming about food, all in all a regular day, until it hit me. It was amazing, you could see the magic in the air.

A pizzogi? What’s a pizzogi? How do you even pronounce that word? What’s wrong with you? Who daydreams about food?

So a pizzogi is a pierogi + pizza = pizzogi, and it’s pronounced pits-o-gee , and yeah, I day dream about food, a lot. I guess I’ve been a little pizza crazy lately, but hey it’s pizza, you can’t go wrong.

Like I said, I was sitting in class, looking at different blogs, and it hit me – why not make a pizza, but instead of using a regular standard boring pizza crust, let’s use pierogies! I know – crazy.

For those who don’t know – pierogies (pe-ro-gee) are basically dumplings. They are dough based, and are usually filled with a potato-cheese mixture, and then boiled. So I figured, why not take these doughy-potatoey-cheesy goodness, put it on the bottom of a pan, top it with sauce, and cheese and bake it.

Now I know this sounds like a lot to do for a supper, but how can you put a price on your dreams?! How can you deny your vision the chance to shine?! You can’t, and that’s why I went through with this arduous process, that and because I was bored.

This whole vision starts with the pierogies, which is where we will begin our journey.

I found this recipe through foodwishes.com, and it’s pretty simple. Combine 1 egg, 1/3 of a cup of milk, some salt and pepper, and mix in a cup of flour (1/2 a cup at a time). Mix until a sticky dough forms. Then flour your board really well, and turn the dough on it, and mix until a solid mass forms, and the dough is not too sticky.

You must let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes, or I will find you, and I will make you start all over, from the top.

To the filling!

To cook the potatoes, you can put them in a pot and bring it to boil, and cook it for a while, or, if you want a much quicker way, you can cook them in the microwave (like we did in the gnocchi recipe). Take the potatoes, and stab it with a fork a few million times, and zap it in the microwave for like 7 minutes-ish. You might need more or less, depending on how many potatoes you decide to use, and how well you push the start button. I used 3 potatoes, for this recipe and it was plenty.

When the potatoes were ready, I cut them in half, and scooped out the inside (you know how there’s an expression: “hot potato”? well you wanna know why that expression exists? try handling a hot potato, it is extremely hot). While they were cooking I sauteed an onion, and threw it in with the potatoes, and mashed em up.

Added some salt and pepper, and sour cream, cheddar cheese, and some mozzarella. The original recipe called for ricotta cheese and cheddar, but I didn’t have ricotta, and neither did my neighbors (thanks a lot neighbors), so I decided to use sour cream. Mixed them all together and set aside.

I took the dough, and rolled it out, and then took my pastry cutter (one of my cups) and cut out little rounds

Brushed some egg on the dough, and placed a little potato mixture on it, and just sealed it shut.

I brought a pot of water to boil, with some salt in it, and dropped these bad boys in for 2-3 minutes, they usually start to float when they are done, and sometimes they say “I’m ready,” but you have to get your ear down really close to the boiling water, and that can hurt.

I melted some butter in a skillet, and when these puppies were done, I put them in the skillet to crisp them up a little (if you’re going to do this, and I know you probably won’t, be careful to drain the pierogi of the water first, or the hot oil might splash back at you).

I could’ve stopped here, and had ourselves a wonderful dinner. Take a pierogi top it with some sour cream and chives, would have been amazing.

But I wasn’t looking for amazing…I was looking for FANTASTIC (caps and bold), and nothing less would suffice.

Onward to the PIZZOGI!!!

To make the pizzogi, just take the pierogies, and line the bottom of a springform pan with them. I tried to make sure there were no holes, but given the shape of these things, it’s not necessarily so easy.

Next top that with some sauce, and cheese

And I figured since the pierogies are all baked already, and I just wanted to cook the cheese, I popped this under the broiler for like 5-6 minutes.

That’s it! My brilliance has come to fruition!

How awesome does that look? Pretty freaking awesome, I know.

Now in years to come, I know there will be arguments as to who exactly was the inventor for the famed “Pizzogi,” so I want to set the record straight before any controversy arises, it was all ME. This is an original Nossi masterpiece, and you were all here to witness it.

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• salt
• pepper
• Potatoes (3 was plenty for this recipe)
• 1 small onion
• Sour cream (or ricotta cheese)
• Cheddar cheese
• Butter
• Pizza sauce
• Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:

To make the pierogi dough:

1. Combine egg, milk, salt, and pepper, and whisk to combine.
2. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time and mix.
3. Turn on a well floured surface, and knead for a few minutes, adding flour as necessary until a cohesive ball forms, and the ball isn’t so sticky
4. Let dough rest for at least 15 minutes

To make the potato filling:

1. Stab the potato(es) with a fork
2. Microwave on high anywhere from 6-10 minutes (check every once in a while to make sure your potato didn’t explode in the microwave, which by the way would be awesome)
3. Sautee the onion.
4. Cut the potatoes lengthwise, and scoop out the middle.
5. Add the onion to potato mush, and mash together.
6. Add salt, pepper, sour cream, and cheddar and mix until a uniform consistency.

To assemble pierogi:

1. Roll out the dough, and cut small circles in it (you can use a pastry cutter, but I used the top of a glass)
2. Brush each round with beaten egg
3. Add a little of the potato mixture to each round (about 1-2 teaspoons)
4. Close tight
5. Drop the pierogies in boiling water, and cook for 2-3 minutes
6. When ready, take the pierogi out of the water, and drain well, and put into skillet with melted butter for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side, and drain on paper towels

To make Pizzogi:

1. Take made pierogies and line the bottom of a spring-form pan with them, trying to overlap them as much as possible to avoid too many holes
2. Top with pizza sauce, and cheese
3. Broil for 5 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.