Pierogi Casserole

Hello Hive friends

Pierogies, case you are unfamiliar, are popular dumplings in Poland, Ukraine and other eastern European countries. Some people may not even realize it, as they are found in every grocery store here in Canada and around the world.

I almost bought some frozen ones the other day. They were around 8 dollars and there were not that many in the bag. I chose to make them. Then I had a change of heart about making like a dumpling as they usually are.

Instead of making the dumplings which is rather laborious and time consuming, I resorted to a casserole that an old friend of mine introduced to me long before plantbased was a thing.

This is a simple way to make what tastes like perogies but in a different form.

I didn't even make my own pasta dough to keep it as simple as possible. We all like shortcuts sometimes right?

Out of one box of lasagna noodles, I used around half. 12 pieces.

The noodles were added to a pot of boiling salty water, and cooked until they were soft but not mushy or falling apart.

The filling was made with potato, which is common pierogi filling. It's the kind I always get because it's plant based.

After peeling, chopping and boiling until they were soft, I mashed them with vegetable broth and garlic.

My friend who showed me the recipe, put garlic in the mash. The only thing is she put raw garlic, and she also put cheddar cheese.

I decided to saute the garlic a bit to get rid of the raw taste.

When the garlic was a little golden, I added it to the potato mixture and mashed it until it was smooth.

Back when my friend introduced me to the dish, we used to put cheddar cheese into the mash potatoes.

Because I was using plant based cheddar cheese, I decided to make a cheese sauce instead. Plant based cheeses don't always melt properly. I wasn't sure how it would melt in the potatoes.

Pierogi casserole

1kg potatoes
1/2 litre vegetable broth
50g garlic
275g or 12 lasagna noodles
Salt to taste

Cheese sauce
150g vegan cheddar
500g almond milk
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup vegan butter
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
Salt to taste

Garnish
140g vegan bacon
400g fried onions

I started by adding butter, flour, and whisking until smooth.

I added the vegan cheddar and milk.

It was kept on medium heat and continuously whisked until smooth.

Now the fun part comes. Assembling the casserole is my favourite part. I know at this point, I will soon have it in the oven which I pre heated to 375 F.

I brushed the bottom of a lasagna pan with oil.

I had previously divided the mash potatoes in 3 parts, to make 3 layers.
After laying 3 sheets of lasagna on the greased bottom, I carefully spread the potatoes over the noodles. This was repeated two more times.

When the final layer of noodles were on, I poured over the cheese sauce.

To finish it off I topped it with onions that I browned in a skillet with oil.

The onions were spread all over the top of the casserole.

The noodles and the potatoes were inexpensive, so I could splurge on some vegan bacon, along with the vegan cheese.

Plant based bacon is much different from the real thing. To turn it into bacon sprinkles. I had to add oil to the pan. It doesn't crisp up like real bacon. It does have a taste like bacon. It's been a lifetime since I've had the real ,so for me it was perfect.

They were just fried until they changed colour a bit. I let the oven do the rest of the work.

It was put in the oven at 375f for half an hour covered with tin foil, then around 15 minutes uncovered. I just did everything by feel, as most of you probably do. Ovens are not always the same.

It was super hot all the way through. I knew it would have to rest for a while before cutting. I let it sit for a good twenty minutes.

We had it with rapini on the side. Rapini is one of my favourite greens. It looks a bit like broccoli but is actually unrelated.

This was very filling and quite indulgent.

This was my first plant based version of this. I will definitely do it again.

Thanks for dropping by

^{by: @KidSisters}

Photos taken with a Nikon D7500
Gifs done with Ezigif