The holidays always make me think of my mother and all of the wonderful traditional recipes that she would prepare. Being of Polish heritage, one of the dishes served at Easter in our home were giant platters of pierogi, the Polish version of filled dumplings. I think it’s important to keep tradition alive, so I invited my nieces, Sophie Herbert and Kristina Christiansen, as guests on my show, to hone their pierogi making skills. We had so much fun and the pierogi were delicious. You can watch this program on Monday and the recipe, of course, can be found at Marthastewart.com.
This is the pierogi dough resting beneath a glass bowl.
We made a blueberry filling as well as a traditional cabbage filling – my mother’s favorite.
Farm fresh eggs go into the dough.
Cornmeal is sprinkled to keep the pierogi from sticking.
The setup
Sophie wanted to practice before the show to brush up on her pierogi-making skills.
The dough is very manageable and elastic.
Tom Joseph – TV chef, giving Sophie a hand.
My mother liked to use these old-fashioned aluminum tumblers to cut the dough. They make the perfect size circle and cut very well.
Sophie seems to be quite a good pierogi maker.
Sophie covers the rounds with a linen towel to prevent drying.
Kristina pops into the kitchen.
Sophie drops the pierogi into rapidly boiling salted water.
The blueberry pierogi are delicious with sweetened sour cream flavored with a touch of vanilla.
And the cabbage are great with melted butter.
Deb Genova, one of the TV makeup artists, applies Kristina’s makeup.
Fran Brescia – producer and Sophie on set for dress rehearsal
Fran and Sophie setting the mood
Reviewing all the steps
The monitor tells it all.
A look of surprise
Pretty cousins
Getting prepped and primped backstage
A very lovely portrait
Sophie and Kristina will have to come back again, soon.
We got quite silly.
Here we are on set and ready to demonstrate.
It was so much fun having my nieces on the show. Here I am with Kristina and Sophie.