Apple, cabbage and cheddar perogies

Since my Imperia pasta roller has been taking up its position of esteem in my kitchen, I’ve been having all kinds of ideas for things made out of…well, pasta dough.

First, I made ravioli…

Then, spaghetti.

But wait, there’s more to life than just pasta! I could make…perogies! Pasta filled with potatoes! Carbs on top of carbs!

And a whole new culinary niche opened up before me, literally filled with delicious possibilities.

Naturally, being the inquisitive little kitchen maven that I am, I wanted to come up with something unique.

I wanted to experiment.

So, one Sunday afternoon I spent six hours making perogies. Four different kinds of perogies. I almost died, I was so tired after making perogies all day. I don’t think I will be doing that again.

Next time, I will stick to one recipe and just make lots of them, to freeze for later.

So here, I present to you, Part 1 of 4 in my perogie odyssey:

Apple and cabbage with applewood-smoked cheddar!

I used napa cabbage because I spotted these little teeny tiny heads of it at the asian grocery. I knew I wouldn’t need bushels and bushels of the stuff, so I didn’t want one of those giant heads of cabbage.

Plus it is more tender and frilly and I just thought it would go nicely with the apple.

It is important to salt and squeeze the bejesus out of the cabbage, to get most of the water out. Make sure to allow the salt at least 30 minutes to work its mineral magic, then with a kitchen towel or cheesecloth, squeeze the life out of that bad boy. Squeeze it to death. Don’t worry, most of the salt will come out with the water, but to be on the safe side, don’t use any additional salt anywhere else in the filling after this point.

A nice starchy russet or yukon gold potato will make a lovely velvety filling.

And any kind of apple will do. I used a gala, just because that’s my favourite kind of apple. Crunchy and crisp, not mealy. Not too sweet and not too tart. And not too humongous, just the perfect amount of apple for my weekday breakfast.

That’s right, I eat an apple a day. So far it has indeed kept the doctor away.

I served these as shown with sour cream and apple sauce, with a little green onion on top.

They turned out fabulously! Here are the recipes!

Apple, cabbage and cheddar perogies

Perogie dough

So, what comes next? What carbeautiful delight could part 2 of 4 bring in my perogie series? You’ll just have to wait to find out…