This is a childhood favourite recipe of mine! We would make this together, helping to roll out the dough or fill our own piroshki. My favourite dishes tend to be ones that we would make together as a family. It’s one of the things I’m looking forward to doing with my daughter once she gets older!

Potato Cabbage Piroshki

Recipe Adapted from Sara’s Piroshki. Serves 6-8.

Pie Dough:

• 2 cups, slightly overfilled flour
• 2/3 cup salted butter (if not using salted butter, add a pinch of salt)
• 6 to 8 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling:

• 4-5 potatoes, chopped
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 medium cabbage, shredded
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• Pinch of salt
• Lots of freshly ground pepper – I use a blend of red, white, and black peppercorns
• Chopped dill, parsley, and green onions (around 1/2 cup total of any mix)

Using a food processor, pulse flour and butter together until the butter is fully incorporated and the mixture looks like sand. Slowly drizzle water in while pulsing. The water should be very cold, having a couple crushed ice cubes is a great way to keep it that way. Pulse it gently, the mixture should start to come together in the food processor. Turn it out onto plastic wrap, shape into a ball and put in the fridge while preparing the filling (at least a half hour).

Boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender. Drain water and mash. In a separate pan, sauté cabbage and onion with butter. Once onions are translucent and cabbage soft, add chopped garlic until fragrant, around 30 seconds to a minute. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix. Taste this mixture! If it needs more salt, add more salt, same with ground pepper or any of the other fresh herbs. It will taste pretty much the same once baked in a pastry dough! Some days I’m in the mood for more cheddar, some days more dill.

Preheat oven to 400′ F. Take dough out of the refrigerator and divide into 6-8 balls. Since the filling is pretty solid, you can pack these piroshki fairly well. Fill these in a calzone style. Crimp the ends by rolling them and pinching them with your thumb and forefinger or pushing down with a fork. Create 2-3 vents on the top, or the dough will make its own vent and overspill (I forgot to do so for the picture below! After baking, the filling spilled slightly out onto the silicone mat).

If desired, brush the top of the dough with an egg wash (one egg yolk thinned with water). Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.