Lion's Head Cassarole and Potato and Cheese Pierogi

Sorry about the photo- I couldn't quite figure out how to make it look appetizing.

I don't particularly care for meatballs, especially Italian meatballs (sorry!), so I was surprised when I liked a lion's head. It's slightly crispy (if you don't steam it) on the outside and so juicy and soft, not the hardpacked Italian version. I made the version that's all meat because I didn't have tofu, but the tofu one is way better. It's a lot softer. I don't know how to cook Asian food, unless it's fried rice. I really have no idea what the spices look like or what they're called or what flavors go with what so I'm really thankful for Taiwanese bloggers who post recipes like this because without them I'd be lost.


Pierogi is like a dumpling and I love dumplings, all shapes and forms. I've only had them from Traktir, a great Russian restaurant in West Hollywood, CA. I looovveeee their pierogi, but it's pretty expensive for the amount they give you and I can probably eat two platefuls so I thought it'd be a good idea to make them at home. I got the recipe here. Again, the addition of sour cream is unexpected and thankfully I couldn't taste it in the dough. I am going to need to work on making pierogi. My dumplings were not the silken, plump half moons at Traktir, mine were lumpy HUGE ovals- some of which blew up while boiling. I didn't make the sauce- I couldn't bring myself to use all that butter and sour cream.

Potato filling. I added a LOT of dill to this after the photo because it was bland.

even more french fries!

I had a lot of leftover oil from deep frying the piroshkis a few recipes ago. Here are the sweet ones, I put strawberry jam on the inside and dusted them with confectioner's sugar afterwards.

My set up.

I also had a bunch of leftover potatoes so I made french fries. I experimented with two frying techniques, just frying once and doing a double-fry (aka once at 325 and again at 375). I didn't use a thermometer, although that would've helped. I put small pieces of potato in the oil to test if it was hot enough- if the oil isn't hot enough you get soggy, greasy fries- not good.

One fry.

Double fry.

I seasoned mine with cajun seasoning and smoked salt. Next time I'll try soaking the potatoes in water for a few hours before frying- I read that this make them crispier.

Piroshkis!

Piroshkis are like Russian empanadas. I've seen it spelled all sorts of ways, but this is how the recipe spelled them and I'm going to stick with it! There's a Russian bakery near where I live that has really good (and cheap) piroshkis, but they always taste a little bit stale. I especially like the one with pickled cabbage- I've yet to find a recipe for the cabbage. It's so good!

I found this recipe via google-searching piroshkis. I think I make mine too big, because the full recipe only makes me about 30. The trick is to roll out the dough really thin because it puffs up when you cook them. I've made this three times in the past 6 weeks so you know it's good. I've also made it with strawberry jam on the inside and dusted with powdered sugar- mmmm kinda like doughnuts.

This filling is ground beef, onions and mushrooms (and a lot of dill).

I've also made it with Silk soymilk when I ran out of milk and it tasted the same. And I've baked it (at 450 and brushed the top with vegetable oil) and deep fried and they're both great. Obviously the deep-fried is crunchier and more oily, but the baked version gets crispy too because of the baked version is also crispy because of the oil in the dough and the oil brushed on top. I like to bake them though because I always have leftovers and they taste the same the next day.

I added way way way more dill to the filling, it was pretty much green by the time I was finished. I also added some hot sauce (sriracha!) and some chicken boullion. Also... I don't know what sort of shape piroshkis are supposed to be, so I made them into dumpling shapes because that's all I know how to do. Be sure you pinch the edges shut, I had a few blow up during the deep frying.